Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese entrepreneur and art collector, bought the first crewed flight aboard SpaceX’s Starship, scheduled for the year 2023. Starship will take Maezawa with a group of artists and civilians - yet to be announced - on a voyage around the Moon. He called the mission ‘DearMoon’ and invited the public and artists to participate in a contest to win a seat to join him on the space adventure.
This week, Maezawa provided an update on the DearMoon mission contest, he shared that 1 million participated in the contest to win a seat aboard SpaceX’s Starship. “Coming close to the end of the selection process for #dearMoon ( @dearmoonproject )! 8 crew members to be selected from 1M[illion] applications worldwide!” he announced via Twitter, alongside an inspiring video –“See some of the applicants in this video,” Maezawa wrote. The 1 million participants are from 249 countries and regions around the world. Watch the video linked below.
The video Maezawa shared on Thursday, provides a glimpse of who can potentially win the flight to space. It features a diverse group of people with a variety of talents and aspirations. Some participants are Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers, professional dancers, singers, olympians, teachers, and even YouTubers, among other things. Perhaps, the most recognizable individual who participated in the DearMoon contest is music producer DJ Steve Aoki. However, the 8 winners have not officially been selected.
Coming close to the end of the selection process for #dearMoon ( @dearmoonproject )!
— Yusaku Maezawa (MZ) (@yousuckMZ) July 16, 2021
8 crew members to be selected from 1M applications worldwide!
See some of the applicants in this video!https://t.co/hVpWC8jpXn pic.twitter.com/cJGYnF1hYY
SpaceX’s Starship launch vehicle is actively under development at Starbase in South Texas. The company targets to conduct the first orbital flight test this year. The planned flight will take a stainless-steel prototype of the spacecraft from Boca Chica to the coast of Kauai, Hawaii. The ambitious test flight will be conducted to provide engineers insight into how well the Starship launch system’s design, hardware, and software operates.
Featured Image Source: DearMoon via Twitter
About the Author
Evelyn Arevalo
Evelyn J. Arevalo joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover news as a Space Journalist and SpaceX Starbase Texas Correspondent. Evelyn is specialized in rocketry and space exploration. The main topics she covers are SpaceX and NASA.
