Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa stated Friday that Ok-pop star T.O.P. can be among the many eight individuals who will be a part of him on a flyby across the moon on a SpaceX spaceship subsequent 12 months.
The Japanese tycoon launched plans for the lunar voyage in 2018, shopping for all of the seats on the spaceship. He started taking purposes from around the globe in March 2021 for what can be his second house journey after his 12-day journey to the International Space Station on the Soyuz Russian spaceship final 12 months.
The eight folks Maezawa chosen for his “dearMoon project” are T.O.P., who debuted as a lead rapper for the Ok-pop group Big Bang; American DJ Steve Aoki; filmmaker Brendan Hall and YouTuber Tim Dodd, additionally of the United States. The different 4 are British photographer Karim Illiya, Indian actor Dev Joshi, Czech artist Yemi AD and Irish photographer Rhiannon Adam. American Olympic snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington and Japanese dancer Miyu had been chosen as backups.
T.O.P.’s actual title is Choi Seung-hyun. The 35-year-old began out as an underground rapper earlier than becoming a member of Big Bang, one of many world’s prime boy bands, in 2006.
Maezawa made the announcement on his Twitter and the dearMoon Project web site on Friday, after he tweeted final week saying he held a web-based assembly with Elon Musk and that his “major announcement about space” was underway.
He and the others can be among the many first to journey on the SpaceX car. The journey is anticipated to take a couple of week. The spaceship is not going to make a lunar touchdown however is anticipated to return inside 200 kilometers (120 miles) of the moon’s floor whereas circling it for 3 days.
The journey is anticipated subsequent 12 months, although the precise schedule has not been disclosed.
Last 12 months, Maezawa, 47, and his producer Yozo Hirano turned the primary self-paying vacationers to go to the house station since 2009. He has not disclosed the fee for that mission, although stories stated he paid $80 million.
Maezawa made his fortune in retail vogue, launching Japan’s largest on-line vogue mall, Zozotown. In 2019, he resigned as CEO of the e-commerce firm Zozo Inc. to commit his time to house journey. Forbes journal estimates his wealth at $1.9 billion.
