Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has chosen a team of eight creative professionals who will fly him into space next year on a SpaceX spacecraft, reports the Daily Mail.
One woman on the dearMoon tourist flight is British photographer Rhiannon Adam, who lives and works between London and the United States. Adam is not only the only woman on Maezawa's team, but also the first openly gay woman to go into space.
Steve Aoki is an American music producer, Grammy-nominated artist, fashion designer, and entrepreneur.
T.O.R (Choi Seung-hyun) is a South Korean rapper and record producer, member of the Big Bang group, as well as an actor and avid art collector.
Yemi A.D. - Czech choreographer and performer.
Tim Dodd is an American video blogger for the Daily Astronaut YouTube channel, as well as a photographer and musician.
Brendan Hall is a US documentary filmmaker
Karim Ilija is a photographer and filmmaker based in Iceland and Hawaii.
Dev Dushyant Kumar Joshi is an Indian television actor and influencer.
The reserve team consists of American Caitlin Farrington, Sochi 2014 Olympic champion in snowboard halfpipe, and Japanese dancer and choreographer Miyu.
Entrepreneur and entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa conceived his project in 2018. In March 2021, he lived on the International Space Station for 12 days, where he arrived on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, after which he began accepting applications from artists and artists from around the world to participate in a fully paid space journey. Maezawa does not disclose the cost of the mission, but he is rumored to have paid $80 million.
According to Maezawa, he received applications from more than 1 million people and then interviewed those who made it through the first round of selection. “I had long conversations with each candidate. By asking them about their childhood, why they dream of flying into space, what tasks they would like to perform.
The spacecraft, on which Maezawa and his crew will go into space, should approach the surface of the moon at a distance of 200 kilometers and circle around it for three days. The flight is officially scheduled for next year, though exact dates have not been released. Maezawa's team will be one of the first to embark on the Starship, which has long been in development at SpaceX. The company plans to transport people using a two-stage spacecraft consisting of a Starship (passenger section) and a super-heavy launch vehicle. SpaceX is still testing the launch and landing of prototype craft.
For the crew of dearMoon, spacesuits have also been specially designed. “Each tailor-made suit is designed to provide a pressurized environment for all crew members aboard the Dragon in atypical situations such as cabin depressurization. This suit also routes communication and cooling systems to the astronauts on board during normal flight.