Dev Joshi, an Indian actor, has been named to the “dearMoon crew” for the first civilian mission to the moon. Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese billionaire, said on Friday that Indian actor Dev Joshi and K-Pop artist T.O.P. will be among the eight individuals who will join him on a flyby of the moon aboard a SpaceX spaceship next year.
The rocket developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX will go to the moon and return in a week next year. Maezawa has booked all eight seats on this rocket ship in 2018.
In March 2021, Maezawa began accepting applications for the trip. This will be Maezawa’s second space mission, following his 12-day trip to the International Space Station on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft last year.
T.O.P., who emerged as the main rapper for the K-Pop group Big Bang; American DJ Steve Aoki; filmmaker Brendan Hall; and YouTuber Tim Dodd, both from the United States, are among the eight people Maezawa chose for his “dearMoon project.” British photographer Karim Illiya, Indian actor Dev Joshi, Czech artist Yemi AD, and Irish photographer Rhiannon Adam are the other four. As backups, American Olympic snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington and Japanese dancer Miyu were chosen.
Maezawa made the announcement on Twitter and the dearMoon Project website on Friday, after tweeting last week that he had an online chat with Elon Musk and that his big space announcement was in the works.
He and the other passengers would be among the first to board the SpaceX spaceship. The journey is estimated to take about a week. The spaceship will not land on the moon, but it will get within 200 kilometres (120 miles) of its surface while circling it for three days.
Last year, Maezawa, 47, and his producer, Yozo Hirano, became the space station’s first self-paying guests since 2009. He has not disclosed the cost of that mission, although rumours indicate that he spent $80 million.
Maezawa built his fortune in retail fashion by founding Zozotown, Japan’s largest online fashion mall. He quit as CEO of the e-commerce startup Zozo Inc. in 2019 to devote his attention to space travel. Forbes magazine estimates his fortune at $1.9 billion.
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