Page Nav

HIDE

Pages

Classic Header

{fbt_classic_header}

Breaking News:

latest

Blast off! Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa launches to the ISS on a 12-day mission where he hopes to answer questions such as: 'What happens when you play Pokémon GO in space?'

  Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has blasted off to the International Space Station (ISS) today, where he plans to document his experie...

 Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has blasted off to the International Space Station (ISS) today, where he plans to document his experience for his 750,000 YouTube subscribers. 

The irreverent space enthusiast, who is one of Japan's richest men, launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at about 7:30 GMT (2:30 ET) accompanied by his assistant and film producer Yozo Hirano. 

The pair will spend 12 days aboard the giant orbiting laboratory, where they plan to answer questions such as 'Do you move forward when you fart in space?' and 'What happens when you play Pokémon GO in space?'

Their three-seat Soyuz spacecraft, emblazoned with the Japanese flag and an 'MZ' logo for Maezawa's name, was moved onto the launchpad on Sunday morning. 


Blast off! Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa (right) has blasted off to the International Space Station today, where he plans to document his experience for his 750,000 YouTube subscribers

Blast off! Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa (right) has blasted off to the International Space Station today, where he plans to document his experience for his 750,000 YouTube subscribers

The irreverent space enthusiast, who is one of Japan 's richest men, launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at about 7:30 GMT (2:30 ET) accompanied by his assistant and film producer Yozo Hirano

The irreverent space enthusiast, who is one of Japan 's richest men, launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at about 7:30 GMT (2:30 ET) accompanied by his assistant and film producer Yozo Hirano 

The spacecraft will be piloted by Alexander Misurkin (pictured centre alongside Hirano, left, and Maezawa, right). Misurkin is a 44-year-old Russian cosmonaut who has already been on two missions to the ISS

The spacecraft will be piloted by Alexander Misurkin (pictured centre alongside Hirano, left, and Maezawa, right). Misurkin is a 44-year-old Russian cosmonaut who has already been on two missions to the ISS

Their three-seat Soyuz spacecraft, emblazoned with the Japanese flag and an 'MZ' logo for Maezawa's name, lifted off today

Their three-seat Soyuz spacecraft, emblazoned with the Japanese flag and an 'MZ' logo for Maezawa's name, lifted off today


'I am almost crying because of my impressions, this is so impressive,' Maezawa said in late November, after arriving at Baikonur for the final days of preparation. 

The spacecraft will be piloted by Alexander Misurkin, a 44-year-old Russian cosmonaut who has already been on two missions to the ISS, ending a decade-long pause in Russia's space tourism programme. 

Maezawa and Hirano have spent the past few months training at Star City, a town outside Moscow that has prepared generations of Soviet and Russian cosmonauts. 

They have been learning how to behave in zero-gravity and specific protocols in the event of an emergency.

Maezawa said that training in the spinning chair 'almost feels like torture'. 

'It's the hardest training ever done,' he tweeted in late November. 

The cost of the trip is unclear, as the price tag has been kept a secret, although previous customers reportedly paid $20 million to $40 million for flights to the ISS. 

But this is unlikely to make much of a dent in the $1.9 billion net worth Maezawa is estimated to have accumulated through his firm Zozo, previously known as Start Today, which operates Japan's largest online fashion mall ZOZOTOWN.

Despite being the country's 30th-richest person, the 46-year-old tycoon is far from the traditional image of a staid Japanese businessman. 

Maezawa made headlines in 2019 when he launched a search for a female companion to accompany him during a trip around the moon on a SpaceX spacecraft, scheduled to launch in 2023.

But his request was not met, so he changed it to a search for eight artists, asking them to create 'masterpieces (that) will inspire the dreamer within all of us'.

In March, he announced he was broadening the search beyond artists, and claims to have received one million applications for eight spots on the rocket made by Elon Musk's firm. 

If SpaceX can pull the trip off, Maezawa and his band of astronauts will become the first lunar voyagers since the last US Apollo mission in 1972.

His Twitter account – its handle a play on his first name: @yousuck2020 – has more than 10 million followers. 

Maezawa has said he is 'not afraid or worried' about the his trip to the ISS, and has been soliciting ideas for things he should do in space from his followers.

The billionaire said it doesn't matter whether the ideas are 'silly or serious', he just wanted to give people the chance to participate in his space tourism journey.

He plans to film each of the activities he undertakes during his 12-day trip for his YouTube channel and upload them while in orbit.

Maezawa's launch comes at a challenging time for Russia, as its space industry struggles to remain relevant and keep up with Western competitors in the modern space race. 

Last year, US billionaire Elon Musk's company SpaceX ended Russia's monopoly on manned flights to the ISS after it delivered astronauts to the orbiting laboratory in its Crew Dragon capsule.

This, however, also freed up seats on Russia's Soyuz rockets that were previously purchased by NASA, allowing Moscow to accept fee-paying tourists.

So far Russia has sent seven self-funded tourists to space in partnership with the US-based company Space Adventures. Maezawa plans to be the 8th and the first from Japan.

And in October, the Russian space agency Roscosmos sent actress Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko to the ISS to film scenes for the first movie in orbit in an effort to beat a rival Hollywood project.

But elsewhere in the world, this has also been a milestone year for amateur space travel.

In July, billionaire Richard Branson travelled aboard his Virgin Galactic spacecraft, experiencing a few minutes of weightlessness before coming back to Earth.

Blue Origin, the company of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, also completed two missions beyond the Earth's atmosphere that month. The passengers included 90-year-old Star Trek star William Shatner and Bezos himself. 

Meanwhile, in September, SpaceX operated a historic flight taking the first all-civilian crew on a three-day journey around the Earth's orbit in a mission called Inspiration4. 

Those journeys mark the beginning of space opening up for non-professionals with more launches announced for the future.

In 2023, SpaceX is planning to take eight amateur astronauts around the moon in a spaceflight that is bankrolled by Maezawa, who will also be onboard.

Russia has said it will take more tourists to the ISS on future Soyuz launches and also plans to offer one of them a spacewalk. 

The cost of the trip is unclear, as the price tag has been kept a secret, although previous customers reportedly paid $20 million to $40 million for flights to the ISS

The cost of the trip is unclear, as the price tag has been kept a secret, although previous customers reportedly paid $20 million to $40 million for flights to the ISS

Despite being the country's 30th-richest person, the 46-year-old tycoon is far from the traditional image of a staid Japanese businessman

Despite being the country's 30th-richest person, the 46-year-old tycoon is far from the traditional image of a staid Japanese businessman

Maezawa will spend 12 days aboard the giant orbiting laboratory, where they plan to answer questions such as 'Do you move forward when you fart in space?' and 'What happens when you play Pokémon GO in space?'

Maezawa will spend 12 days aboard the giant orbiting laboratory, where they plan to answer questions such as 'Do you move forward when you fart in space?' and 'What happens when you play Pokémon GO in space?'

SEVEN PEOPLE HAVE PAID TO STAY ON THE ISS, PAYING UP TO $20 MILLION FOR A TRIP LASTING BETWEEN 8 AND 12 DAYS 
NAME LAUNCH DATEDURATION 
Dennis TitoApril 28, 20018 days 
Mark Shuttleworth April 25, 2002 10 days 
Gregory OlsenOctober 1, 2005 10 days 
Anousheh AnsariSeptember 20, 2006 10 days 
Charles SimonyiApril 7, 2007 10 days 
Richard GarriottOctober 12, 2008 13 days 
Charles Simonyi March 26, 2009 13 days 
Guy Laliberte September 30, 2009 12 days 
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa (pictured left) and his assistant Yozo Hirano (right) trained at Star City in Moscow ahead of their expedition to the International Space Station

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa (pictured left) and his assistant Yozo Hirano (right) trained at Star City in Moscow ahead of their expedition to the International Space Station

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has asked the public to suggest up to 100 'silly' activities for him to try when he journeys into space

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has asked the public to suggest up to 100 'silly' activities for him to try when he journeys into space

Born in 1975 in Chiba prefecture in Japan, Maezawa (seen above playing the drums) graduated from the prestigious Waseda Jitugyo High School in 1991. It was there that he started SWITCH STYLE, an indie rock band which eventually released an EP

Born in 1975 in Chiba prefecture in Japan, Maezawa (seen above playing the drums) graduated from the prestigious Waseda Jitugyo High School in 1991. It was there that he started SWITCH STYLE, an indie rock band which eventually released an EP


No comments