The International Space Station (EEI) receives a unique visitor and thus embarks on an event unprecedented in many years. Is about Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese recognized for his business activity and also for his interest in space travel. The billionaire owner of e-commerce stores will spend 12 days in the orbital laboratory and in the future plans to fly to the Moon.
This 46-year-old man owns businesses in e-commerce, as well as owner of the Contemporary Art Foundation of Tokyo. In addition to his business activities and involvement in the art world, his name gained widespread visibility when Elon Musk’s SpaceX firm announced that he It will be the first commercial passenger to orbit the Moon on a mission initially scheduled for 2023.
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Maezawa does not shy away from flamboyance. For example, in the past he announced that he was looking for a “bright and positive” girlfriend for his lunar adventure, and on another occasion he raffled off $ 1 million on Twitter. He then offered eight all-expense-paid seats on the ship to the Moon.
Yusaku Maezawa’s trip to the International Space Station
As we pointed out, the Japanese will have a 12-day stay in the international laboratory that orbits about 400 kilometers from the Earth. He will travel with Yozo Hirano, his assistant, who will be in charge of documenting the adventure.
Maezawa travels to the ISS in the Soyus MS-20 spacecraft of the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, along with cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. As they count in Engadget, the businessman is not an astronaut although he trained to face the challenges of weightlessness for 100 days.
According to the agency AFP, the businessman and his assistant will be the first space tourists to visit the ISS in more than a decade, although Roscosmos recently brought in a film director and an actress to shoot the first feature film in space.
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“I would like to look at Earth from space and experience weightlessness,” Maezawa said at a pre-flight press conference. “I also have a personal expectation: I am curious about how space will change me, how I will change after this space flight,” he closed.
The price paid by the businessman to be part of this trip with his assistant has not been disclosed.
