Japanese Billionaire Maezawa Reveals Crew Of Artists For dearMoon Project

(CTN NEWS) – Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese billionaire, disclosed on Thursday the names of eight crew members who would go with him in 2023 on a SpaceX rocket still in production.

The dearMoon mission was initially introduced in 2018.

Initially declaring he would invite a group of six to eight musicians, Maezawa then amended the rules to require candidates to enter a competition through an online application process.

The eight individuals selected were American DJ and producer Steve Aoki, American YouTuber Tim Dodd, Czech artist Yemi AD, and Irish photographer Rhiannon Adam.

British photographer Karim Iliya, American filmmaker Brendan Hall, Indian actor Dev Joshi, and South Korean K-pop band TOP.

Crew for Moon Trip Selected!!#dearMoonCrew @dearmoonprojecthttps://t.co/P0vEZ6Cibo

— Yusaku Maezawa (MZ) (@yousuckMZ) December 8, 2022

Two backup crew members were also present: American snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington and Japanese dancer Miyu.

Maezawa produced a two-minute video on YouTube that was shortly made private after previewing his announcement on Twitter.

However, CNBC space reporter Michael Sheetz tweeted a saved copy.

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa announced the dearMoon crew:

DJ & producer Steve Aoki
Youtube creator Tim Dodd
Artist Yemi A.D.
Photographer Karim Iliya
Photographer Rhiannon Adam
Filmmaker Brendan Hall
Actor Dev Joshi
Musician T.O.P. pic.twitter.com/8QRphzGKef

— Michael Sheetz (@thesheetztweetz) December 8, 2022

In the video, Maezawa added, “I hope everyone will grasp the responsibility that comes with leaving the Earth, travelling to the Moon, and returning.”

“They will benefit greatly from this experience, and I wish they would use it to benefit the world and humanity.”

The journey would take approximately six days to complete roundtrip and circumnavigate the Moon without a landing, according to a mission profile image on the dearMoon website.

The SpaceX Starship will be the most potent rocket ever created when it is finished.

SpaceX has not yet conducted an orbital test flight, despite its upper stage’s success in test flights inside the atmosphere and successful landings.

The company’s creator Elon Musk has frequently stated that this will happen before the end of 2022.

Maezawa, the extremely wealthy entrepreneur of Japan’s largest online clothing store, travelled to the International Space Station last year on a Russian Soyuz rocket for an estimated 10 billion yen ($73 million at the current exchange rate).

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