The Japanese billionaire, who bought a SpaceX Starship lunar flight in 2018, had organized a whole campaign called “dearMoon” to attract applications. He therefore chose 8 passengers to accompany him, celebrities and artists from different backgrounds. Despite everything, they will have to wait for the departure…
Indeed, Starship (lunar or not) is far from ready for adventure.
Who wants to go to the moon?
Yusaku Maezawa is a regular in marketing campaigns and selections. After the announcement of his dearMoon project in September 2018, he even organized a large-scale operation to find himself… a companion that he could take around the Moon. Similarly, last year, he invited Internet users to fill out a form to join his crew.
The criteria were varied, such as artistic quality or the number of subscribers on social networks. On December 8, the Japanese billionaire finally unveiled the names of those who will prepare to accompany him on a 6-day trip around the Moon. And if you thought that Mr. Maezawa was not serious, remember that he was making this announcement a year to the day after his first space trip. Last year, he had indeed offered himself an adventure in Soyuz, during which he had spent a few days on the International Space Station.
The Star Ac’ mansion
Who will therefore take place in the (large) nose of Starship to soar towards the Moon? If they ever take off, we will find South Korean rapper and K-pop star Choi Seung Hyun (TOP), Indian actor Dev Joshi, professional photographers Karim Iliya (UK) and Rhiannon Adam (Ireland) , American director Brendan Hall and Czech choreographer and artist Yemi AD
At their side, we will also find the world-famous American DJ Steve Aoki and the specialized youtubeur Tim Dodd of the channel Everyday Astronaut. The latter is already gravitating around the Starship project, with several interviews with Elon Musk to his credit and reports on the gigantic launcher.
Nice mission… on paper
Young, committed, dynamic, these 8 guests (to which must be added two substitutes, the American snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington and the Japanese dancer Miyu) will have nothing to pay for their flight around the Moon. But they will need, like Yusaku Maezawa, to be very patient before this trip takes place, and also to find out more about it (who will be the SpaceX companions, if Elon Musk will be there or not, what will be the date of the mission…).
Indeed, it will have escaped no one that the Starship program has not advanced as planned this year, and that the last take-off took place in May 2021. The orbital flight is still pending, and it will still take many successful stages for a tourist trip around the Moon. Nevertheless, here are 9 tickets for an absolutely new and futuristic space flight.
Source : CNN
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