Yusaku Maezawa, a businessman, revealed his SpaceX’s moon mission crew on Friday, following a global search for creative individuals last year, according to the BBC.
The most high-profile selections are American DJ Steve Aoki and Korean star TOP.
The flight, which is scheduled for next year, could be the first human lunar journey since 1972.
A spacecraft would circle the moon, coming within 200 kilometers (124 miles) of the surface. From launch to return, the journey would take eight days.
However, the Starship rocket from Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, on which the crew is supposed to travel, has yet to receive approval from US regulators.
The ship has not even been approved for an orbital journey around the Earth, and it has been grounded in Texas for the past 18 months following a test launch in May 2021.
Mr Maezawa, on the other hand, made no mention of the delay in his video announcing the crew for the mission dubbed dearMoon.
Mr Maezawa is shown in the first scene looking up at the moon in a Japanese garden. It then cuts to the first crew member, DJ Aoki, performing at one of his shows.
“I can’t pass this up; my soul begs for it,” the Billboard-charting artist says in the video.
Tim Dodd, also known as the Everyday Astronaut on YouTube, is the next passenger to be revealed. He has 1.4 million followers for his educational videos on spaceflight and astrophysics.
In his own video, released on Friday, the vlogger expressed surprise at being chosen. He continued, “ironically, or poetically… actually what got me started making videos on Youtube was SpaceX’s announcement in 2017 that it would send a civilian to the moon.”
The other members of the dearMoon mission who have been announced are:
TOP (Choi Seung hyun), a K-pop rapper and former member of Big Bang Theory (South Korea)
Yemi A.D., a dancer and choreographer (Republic of Czech Republic)
Rhiannon Adam is a photographer (Ireland)
Karim Iliya is a wildlife photographer (UK)
Brendan Hall is a filmmaker (US)
Dev Joshi is an actor (India)
Back-ups include US Olympic snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington and Japanese dancer Miyu.
“I hope everyone recognizes the responsibility that comes with leaving Earth, traveling to the moon, and returning,” Mr Maezawa said.
“They will learn a lot from this experience, and I hope they will use it to help the planet, to help humanity.”
Mr Maezawa, who made his fortune in the online fashion retailer Zozo, is now heavily involved in commercial space travel. He spent 12 days aboard the International Space Station on a Russian rocket last year.
In 2018, he was named the first private passenger to be flown around the moon by SpaceX, and he stated that he would cover the costs of the other eight passengers.
Mr Maezawa’s agreed-upon price for his space ticket has not been disclosed, but Mr Musk claims it was “a lot of money.”
He also launched a documentary search for a new girlfriend to accompany him on his moon voyage in 2020, before canceling due to “mixed feelings.”
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