Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa invited 8 people of different professions to go with him on the first civilian trip around the Moon on the Starship spacecraft, which is currently being developed by SpaceX. The flight is scheduled for 2023, but the date has not been finalized.

Yusaku Maezawa is the owner of the largest Japanese online clothing store, whose assets are estimated at $ 2 billion. The fact that Maezawa will become the first passenger of SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft became known back in 2018. At that time, it was said that the Japanese businessman had made a very significant financial contribution to the development of Starship. The announcement took place at a SpaceX event, where its head Elon Musk also took part. At the same time, the Dear Moon project was announced, within which the organizers wanted to select from six to eight people to fly around the moon in 2023, together with a Japanese businessman. According to Maezawa’s idea, the participants of the project were supposed to be people of creative professions.

“After returning to Earth, these artists will be asked to create something. Their artwork will inspire other dreamers around the world. “Maezawa said at the time.

In a new address, published on Tuesday, Maezawa said the project has since evolved and is now aimed at a more diverse audience. People who meet two criteria have a chance to take part in it: “Those who are ready to expand their boundaries, help people and society in any way” и “Those who are willing to support other crew members who share the same aspirations”… You can apply for participation in the project at this link.

“I want a wide variety of people to join the project. In general, from 10 to 12 participants will be selected, but I will invite only 8 people to travel to the Moon “– said the Japanese businessman in the published video.

How the selected crew members of the future civilian mission to the Moon will undergo pre-flight training, Maezawa did not explain in the published video. However, he added that the flight for other members will be completely free, since he bought all the seats on the Starship. Maezawa said the trip to the moon would take three days. After that, the spacecraft will fly around the natural satellite of the Earth and return back to Earth in three days.

SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft will be a fully reusable space launch system to Mars. In the future, Starship will be able to send several dozen people and up to 100 tons of payload into deep space in one launch. The company is currently developing a prototype spacecraft. In one of the last two tests, the device was able to rise to an altitude of more than 12 km above the surface, but when attempting to land, both prototypes crashed.

Despite the very tight development schedule, Elon Musk and SpaceX Director Gwynne Shotwell previously said that the first Starship orbital flight around Earth could take place by the end of 2021. Musk said last year that “Before people can board this ship, the company must conduct hundreds of space satellite launches.”… Given such a busy schedule, sending people to the moon in 2023 still seems unlikely.