Space Tourism: Japanese Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa Blasts Off to ISS

Maezawa is also set to become the first private passenger on the SpaceX Moon mission and has begun searching for eight people to join him.

Space Tourism: Japanese Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa Blasts Off to ISS

Yusaku Maezawa shortly before the launch to the International Space Station at the Baikonur Cosmodrome

Highlights
  • Maezawa plans to upload footage of his flight to his YouTube channel
  • The cost of Maezawa's trip was not disclosed
  • Maezawa is set to become the first private passenger on the SpaceX
Advertisement

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa set out to became the first space tourist in more than a decade to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) when he blasted off on Wednesday, a voyage he sees as a dry run for his planned trip around the moon with Elon Musk's SpaceX in 2023.

The 46-year-old fashion magnate and art collector successfully launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan along with his assistant Yozo Hirano, who will document the journey, as well as Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin.

Maezawa, a space enthusiast who has been training for the journey for months, has become a household name in Japan thanks to his penchant for private jets, celebrity girlfriends and cash giveaways to Twitter followers, in a country known for its conformist corporate culture.

Maezawa plans to upload footage of his flight to his YouTube channel, which has 795,000 followers. He has called on his supporters to give him 100 ideas of things to do in space, and said he plans to play badminton aboard the ISS.

The cost of Maezawa's trip was not disclosed but some reports have put the price tag for tourist space flights as high as $50 million (roughly Rs. 380 crore).

Maezawa is also set to become the first private passenger on the SpaceX moon trip and has begun searching for eight people to join him, requiring applicants to pass medical tests and an interview.

© Thomson Reuters 2021


Will Snapdragon's new 2022 chips make it more prominent as a brand? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Yusaku Maezawa, ISS, SpaceX
Motorola Edge S30 Specifications Tipped via Geekbench Listing, Will Come With Snapdragon 888+
Share on Facebook Gadgets360 Twitter Share Tweet Snapchat Share Reddit Comment google-newsGoogle News
 
 

Advertisement

Follow Us

Advertisement

© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2024. All rights reserved.
Trending Products »
Latest Tech News »