A Japanese billionaire and a coterie of artists will visit the moon as early as 2023, becoming the first private citizens ever to fly beyond low Earth orbit, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced tonight.
Yusaku Maezawa, the founder of Japanese e-commerce giant Zozo, has signed up to fly a round-the-moon mission aboard SpaceX’s BFR spaceship-rocket combo, he and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced during a webcast tonight (Sept. 17) from the company’s rocket factory in Hawthorne, California.
Image: An artist’s rendering of SpaceX’s Big Falcon Rocket, which once fully operational could carry crew and cargo into deep space. Credit: SpaceX
