The pay-to-get-on all civilian moon mission that SpaceX had announced back in 2018 is getting closer and closer, as the 2023 launch is just a few years away. Now, the first paying member of the mission, Yusaku Maezawa has opened registration for others who wish to accompany him on this historical flight.
Japanese billionaire Maezawa had made his fortune from his fashion retail company Zozotown. Thanks to the billions of dollars under his name, he became the first confirmed passenger for this mission that will have 10-12 crew members in total, announcing the news in 2018 alongside Elon Musk. He is now planning to sponsor the fare of 8 other crew members who will take this trip to the moon alongside him.
An artist himself, initially Maezawa had asked for only artists to accompany him and be inspired to create wonderful art based on this extraordinary experience. However, now the base has broadened to any creative person who will be able to better their work because of this mission.
The selection process for these lucky 8 will be done by Maezawa himself. The pre-registrations are open on his dearMoon website until 14 March, after which the participants will be reportedly given some kind of assignment to complete till the 21 of March. This will be followed by an ‘initial screening’ and then a final interview and medical checkout to be done near the end of May. The rest of this year and whole of 2022 will be used for training.
While the pre-registration only requests basic information like name, country, email address and a profile picture, according to Maezawa there are two main criterions for selection. First that the passenger be able to take forward whatever kind of creative activity they excel at, and second that he or she be willing to support and encourage other crew members do the same. There are also rumors that the billionaire is looking for women above the age of 20 as a life-partner for him, and that he had invited women to participate in an alleged match-making event to be chosen for a romantic documentary abroad the rocket. These however were hushed and never confirmed.
Alongside all this, Elon Musk has also revealed some further details of the trip itself. The rocket aims to go further than any Apollo spacecraft till date. A vague flight map has also been revealed, showing that the rocket will be making a loop behind the moon, kind of creating a figure-eight from the Earth to the moon in the 3-day journey.
This is not the only endeavor SpaceX is taking on. From developing the Starship rockets into reusable ones to the other all civilian crew space flight, Inspiration4 planned to tale flight by the end of the year, SpaceX never fails to amaze.
