Entrepreneur and art collector Yusaku Maezawa will be the first private citizen to travel to the moon, if all goes according to plan. Maezawa and Elon Musk stood side-by-side as the pair announced that the Japanese businessman has secured his spot as the first person to buy a SpaceX ticket for the moon, slated for 2023 at the earliest.
Maezawa has a vast personal fortune thanks to his ownership of the Japanese online clothing store Zozo, and has paid a large, unnamed price tag for the trip and the rocket that will take him there. As part of Musk’s long-established aim to usher in the age of space tourism, the B.F.R., SpaceX’s next-generation spacecraft, will shuttle the tourists to the moon, though Musk said Monday that the rocket is less than five percent completed.
Maezawa announced that he would like 5-8 artists and performers to join him on the 4-5 day trip. At this point in history, only 24 humans have ever traveled to the moon.
The Japanese billionaire also invited Musk himself on the trip, according to The New York Times, to which the tech mogul replied, “I don’t know… Maybe we’ll both be on it.”
Thanks for reading InsideHook. Sign up for our daily newsletter and be in the know.
