SpaceX is Sending a Japanese Billionaire Around the Moon to Be The First Space Tourist Ever

Elon Musk announced that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa will be the very first space tourist to board his ambitious SpaceX moon slingshot tour.

Maezawa, whose net worth is currently at $2.9 billion, plans to invite artists from different fields to join him on this outer space cruise when he boards SpaceX’s Big Falcon Rocket — or BFR — sometime in 2023, according to CNN.

The BFR is a new spaceship system that SpaceX is currently developing that consists of massive rocket boosters with far greater power than anything the company has ever created. It also has a towering spacecraft called Big Falcon Spaceship (BFS) that will shoot out of the planet’s atmosphere.

“Finally, I can tell you that I choose to go to the Moon! I choose to go to the moon with artists!” the 42-year-old billionaire said, adding that he already “bought all the seats” before scouting for potential artists to come with him on the four to five-day trip.

“I would like to invite six to eight artists from around the world to join me on this mission to the Moon,” Maezawa said, The Verge reported. “These artists will be asked to create something after they return to Earth, and these masterpieces will inspire the dreamer within all of us.”

At an event held at the company’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California on Monday evening, Maezawa expressed his inspiration when he tried to imagine what the artists would create after they come back from touring the moon.

“What if Picasso had gone to the Moon? Or Andy Warhol or Michael Jackson or John Lennon?” he said, adding, “What about Coco Chanel? These are all artists that I adore.”

While the billionaire did not disclose any information regarding the price of the tickets, Musk said that the down payment was significant enough that it will “have a material effect on paying for cost and development of BFR,” which reportedly has an estimated cost of $5 billion.

“It makes a difference,” Musk continued at the event. “He puts his money where his mouth is. He’s legit.”

Featured Image via YouTube / SpaceX

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Contributer : NextShark