Trip to the Moon: Japanese billionaire offers eight seats

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa will offer eight tickets to people who want to join him on a tourist space trip around the moon. The journey should take place in 2023 with the space company SpaceX.

The eccentric Japanese was the first space tourist to reserve a seat aboard SpaceX’s Starship. He now plans to take eight other civilians on the trip around the moon as well, he announced in a video.

“I invite you to join me on the trip,” he says. People from all over the world can apply until March 14. Maezawa will then select eight people. The trip around the moon will be free for them as Maezawa will pay for their ticket.

The candidates for the mission ‘dearMoon’ must meet two conditions. They must be willing to “push the boundaries”. “By going into space, can you do something even bigger?” Asks Maezawa. Candidates must also be willing to assist their fellow travellers in the same process.

In total, ten to twelve people will participate in the first tourist outing around the moon. The journey would take a week.

The Japanese announced more than two years ago that he would fly around the moon with SpaceX. At first, he was looking for artists to accompany him. But he says he has expanded the selection criteria because he has realized that “anyone who does something creative can be called an artist.”