Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa on Friday revealed that Ok-pop star TOP and DJ Steve Aoki might be among the many eight crew members he plans to tackle a visit across the moon subsequent yr, hitching a journey on one in every of Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets.
Maezawa purchased each seat on the maiden lunar voyage, which has been within the works since 2018 and would comply with his journey on a Soyuz spacecraft to the Worldwide House Station (ISS) for a 12-day stint final yr.
The picks had been introduced by Maezawa on Twitter and at an internet site for what he dubbed the #dearMoonProject.
The style tycoon and his crew would turn out to be the primary passengers on the SpaceX flyby of the moon as industrial companies, together with Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, usher in a brand new age of area journey for rich purchasers.
Like fellow billionaire Musk, Maezawa has a flare for promotion and an infatuation with Twitter — he has boasted to holding the Guinness world document for probably the most retweeted submit, when he provided a money prize of 1 million yen ($7300) to 100 winners for retweeting it.
Maezawa used the micro-blogging web site to recruit eight crew members from all over the world to hitch him on the moon journey, saying 1 million folks had utilized.
TOP, the stage identify of Choi Seung Hyun who broke out with the Ok-pop group Massive Bang, is among the many larger profile members chosen, together with Aoki, a Japanese American musician and DJ whose father based the Benihana restaurant chain.
Indian actor Dev Joshi was additionally among the many picks for the group, comprised largely of artists and photographers.
US Olympic snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington and Japanese dancer Miyu had been named as backup crew members.
Maezawa, 47, flagged an replace to the lunar expedition on Monday, tweeting he’d held an internet assembly with Musk and was readying a “massive announcement about area.”
Maezawa made his fortune founding the net style retailer Zozo Inc, during which Softbank Group Corp’s web enterprise is now the highest shareholder.
