zzdcar
Home
/
Reviews
/
Beyond Cars
/
Meet the First Civilian Crew of the SpaceX Mission to the Moon
Meet the First Civilian Crew of the SpaceX Mission to the Moon-November 2024
2024-02-19 EST 22:13:51

Image for article titled Meet the First Civilian Crew of the SpaceX Mission to the Moon

has the full crew of the mission, which will go to the moon and retun to Earth aboard the first lunar launch of the. The ten crew members will be led by Japanese billionaire , and the group includes and K-pop star TOP among the artists and celebrities chosen by Maezawa to go on the Starship’s maiden voyage.

If the mission is successful, its crew will be the first private citizens to go beyond low-Earth orbit, according to . The crew won’t land on the lunar surface, but will come within 200 kilometers (124 miles) of it, as they orbit the moon for three days before finally returning to Earth. The journey is scheduled to last a total of eight days, per , and has an open launch date in 2023. But it’s been in the works since 2018, after the Japanese billionaire bought all available seats on the SpaceX mission with the intention of giving them away.

Image for article titled Meet the First Civilian Crew of the SpaceX Mission to the Moon

Maezawa started accepting applications for crew members in 2021; among the selection criteria was a strong desire to “push the envelope” in an applicant’s given field, and willingness to support fellow crew members. Maezawa says he received one million applications from as many as 249 countries, and the final crew will be:

Yusaku Maezawa, Entrepreneur - JapanSteve Aoki, DJ/Producer - U.S.Choi Seung Hyun (aka TOP), Musician - South KoreaYemi A.D., Multi-Disciplinary Artist - Czech RepublicRhiannon Adam, Photographer - IrelandTim Dodd, YouTuber - U.S.Karim Iliya, Photographer - UKBrendan Hall, Filmmaker - U.S.Dev D. Joshi, Actor - IndiaKaitlyn Farrington, Snowboarder and Olympic Athlete - U.S. Miyu, Dancer - Japan

Maezawa says the eight crew members and two backup members will take part completely free of charge. Absent from the list are any career astronauts or scientists with the expertise usually associated with a lunar launch, but that’s kind of the point. Maezawa has some experience, having fully-funded his own trip to the International Space Station in 2021 aboard the Soyuz spacecraft.

Outside of the dearMoon mission’s crew leader, its members and prospective astronauts will be launching into space for the first time, and the same goes for the SpaceX Starship, too; this is what Elon Musk’s company has been building towards from day one. Space travel for the wealthy is now taking off, but in the grand scheme of things, Maezawa’s gesture is praiseworthy. The tentative launch of dearMoon could be delayed, but if (when) it takes off, the lunar flyby will get civilians that much closer to actually landing on the moon.

Image for article titled Meet the First Civilian Crew of the SpaceX Mission to the Moon

Comments
Welcome to zzdcar comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Beyond Cars
Crystal Chunks Are Bursting Through The Road In China
Crystal Chunks Are Bursting Through The Road In China
A video of what looks like quartz breaking through the surface of a is making the rounds on . I don’t get over there much, being suspicious of the Chinese over concerns of it spying on its users, as the reports. OK, fine. Actually, I just don’t get the humor...
Nov 2, 2025
Deadliest Train In America Kills 3 People In 2 Separate Collisions At The Same Crossing
Deadliest Train In America Kills 3 People In 2 Separate Collisions At The Same Crossing
operate between Orlando and Miami and hold the unwelcome distinction of being both the first intra-city high speed rail in the U.S. and the , by far. After three people died at a single grade crossing in two separate incidents last week it seems the feds are finally perking...
Nov 2, 2025
String Of Boeing Failures Continues With 737-800 Flight Turning Back With Cracked Cockpit Windshield
String Of Boeing Failures Continues With 737-800 Flight Turning Back With Cracked Cockpit Windshield
In the wake of recent major , including , , and the debacle that was , it isn’t a good time for further failures by the company. that would , an unrelated 737-800 with a cracked windshield, became international news this weekend. The flight took off from Sapporo-New Chitose...
Nov 2, 2025
Aircraft Touch Tips During Blizzard At Japanese Airport
Aircraft Touch Tips During Blizzard At Japanese Airport
As at , its port side wing the starboard vertical stabilizer of bound for Hong Kong. This comes at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, and . “Our aircraft, which was stationary at the time with no customers nor crew onboard, was struck by a Korean Air A330 which was taxiing past,”...
Nov 2, 2025
2023 Zero DSR/X: The Bike Of The Future, But Not Our Future
2023 Zero DSR/X: The Bike Of The Future, But Not Our Future
The world, in 2023, is cyberpunk. We’ve got the , the , and the that keeps the and the . But in cyberpunk media, people are always riding . Why are we stuck with the same bikes we’ve always had? , it seems, wants to address this grievous wrong....
Nov 2, 2025
Marshmallow Treats Ended Up On The Royal Air Force's No-Fly List
Marshmallow Treats Ended Up On The Royal Air Force's No-Fly List
Over in the United Kingdom, there’s a certain dessert known as a “teacake” — or, as a British friend kindly informed me, it’s more accurately known as a “Tunnock” in Scotland. Basically, the food in question for this particular story are actually a cookie base topped with marshmallow, coated...
Nov 2, 2025
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.zzdcar.com All Rights Reserved