SpaceX reveals mystery moon passenger, and he’s a billionaire

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been talking up its plans to shoot tourists around the moon since early 2017. It’s finally starting to feel a little more real as Musk announced the company’s first paying passenger on Monday. The deep-pocketed space explorer is Yusaku Maezawa, a 42-year-old Japanese billionaire and founder of online fashion mall Zozotown.

Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa speaks about his moon mission through SpaceX. Musk previouslyhinted the passengerfor the next-generation BFR (politely known as the Big Falcon Rocket) might be Japanese. Maezawa has plenty of money to devote to this moon shot. He famously dropped over $110 million (£84 million, AU$154 million) on a painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat in 2017.

Maezawa says he intends to invite artists from different disciplines, including literature, film, visual arts, architecture and fashion. He will ask them to create works based on their experience as part of a project called #dearMoon.

Source: cnet.com