Japan’s Maezawa to Be SpaceX’s 1st Moon Rocket Customer

September 18, 2018

Hawthorne, California- Japanese businessman Yusaku Maezawa will be the first customer to fly around the moon aboard BFR, a large rocket being developed by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. of the United States, the company, known as SpaceX, said Monday.

The 42-year-old president of Start Today Co., which operates online fashion mall Zozotown, is expected to take the flight in 2023.

It will be the first voyage close to the moon by mankind since the United States' Apollo missions in the 1960s-1970s that achieved the first manned landing on the only natural satellite of Earth.

If the journey, which is expected to last four to five days, is realized, Maezawa will be the first civilian to fly around the moon.

At an event to announce the BFR passenger held at SpaceX's head office in Hawthorne, California, Maezawa said that flying to the moon was his lifetime dream.

Maezawa, also known as an art enthusiast, said that he plans to invite six to eight artists to join him on the trip and that their seats have already been secured. The contract price has not been disclosed.

The Wall Street Journal reported that it is expected to take one to two years for BFR to make a test flight.

SpaceX announced the round-the-moon voyage plan in February 2017.

The company previously explained that two civilians willing to take the flight had put deposits down. The journey was initially planned to be carried out this year using a rocket that is not BFR.

Among other commercial space travel initiatives, Blue Origin, set up by Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, aims to launch flights between Earth and space. Jiji Press