Japanese billionaire Maezawa selects 8 to join SpaceX moon trip
Japanese billionaire and entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa released the names of the eight people who will join him on a trip to the moon on a SpaceX spaceship next year.
SpaceX will send Maezawa, along with K-Pop star T.O.P and American DJ Steve Aoki, on a week-long trip to the moon and back in 2023 although a date has not yet been announced. Maezawa has dubbed the project #dearMoon.
While the dearMoon crew will not step foot on the moon, the members will orbit around the moon before returning back to earth.
"I can't miss this opportunity," said Aoki in a video released by dearMoon on Thursday. "My soul is begging for this."
Other crew members include creative choreographer Yemi A.D., photographer Rhiannon Adam, YouTuber Tim Dodd, photographer Karim Iliya, filmmaker Brendan Hall, and actor Dev D. Joshi. The backup crew includes U.S.A. Olympian snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington and Japanese dancer Miyu.
"The crew members are not millionaires; They are YouTubers, DJs, dancers, creative people, and photographers," said Assistant Professor of Engineering Niloofar Kamran told ABC News. "That makes a huge difference. They are neither rich nor are they scientists."
Kamran said she hopes her students see dearMoon as a way to show how well-rounded, creative people can do extraordinary things. Kamran said that in 50 years, commercial space will be accessible for anyone—not just millionaires and billionaires.
"Everything has to be commercialized, to be able to be to be useful for people, and we are we are taking steps toward that direction," said Kamran.
Maezawa said he selected the crew members out of a million applicants. The crew boasts geographic diversity including the United States, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Japan, South Korea and India.
In the dearMoon video, Maezawa said that he and Aoki became fast friends due to their similar age. He said that he has high expectations for Aoki.
"I hope [Aoki] will exhibit his leadership and become someone the crew can rely on," said Maezawa.
The other Americans include Dodd, Hall, and Farrington. Maezawa called Dodd the "most famous space YouTuber" due to his channel, Everyday Astronaut. Maezawa said he's looking forward to seeing how Hall captures the personality of each crew member on film.
"When I got the call for dearMoon, I didn't think in a million years I'd be selected for this," said Hall. "Some of the most important parts of my life have been spent trying to capture the night sky; I never dreamed that I could be going up there."
Big Bang member T.O.P said he feels a great responsibility and pride in being the first Korean citizen to go to the moon.
"As a Korean artist, I want the moon to give people hope and make anyone with a dream feel that anything is possible," said T.O.P in the dearMoon video.
Dodd said that he's scared of going to the moon after seeing four starship prototypes explode.
"Seven years ago I bought a spacesuit as a joke to take pictures with, and now I'm going to be flying to the moon," Dodd said in the dearMoon video.
Kamran said that while Dodd may be nervous, the ship is incredibly safe after commercialized space companies have been taking "baby steps," to prove safety for years.
She said that the rocket is especially important because it is reusable, so other future astronauts will be able to potentially fly to the moon in the future.
"It's a big trip, so you're going to contribute to greenhouse gasses," said Kamran. "But it's a part of our advancement. We need to move that direction and at the same time, we need to work on the environmental aspects."
Maezawa said that he hopes his chosen crew members will take their experiences back for the betterment of humanity in a SpaceX press release.
"I love the moon," Maezawa told ABC News in 2018. "I like to do the things that never have been done before. So I want the challenge to go to the moon."
