Japan tycoon all set for ‘easy’ moon training
TOKYO: Billionaire Japanese tycoon and future space tourist Yusaku Maezawa’s training to go the moon should not be too tricky, he joked, adding that he planned to use free time from his sixhour work day to squeeze it in.
The 42yearold Maezawa paid an undisclosed sum for a ticket on fellow tycoon Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket around the moon as early as 2023 and the passionate art collector also plans to take around half a dozen artists with him on the trip.
“It hasn’t been decided yet what training I will need to undergo but Elon Musk has said it shouldn’t be too hard,” Maezawa jested yester day, adding in Japanese, “I believe English will be a must.”
Asked how he could fit astronaut training around his already hectic schedule, he said he adhered to his own company policy of working a sixhour day and devoting the rest of the time to personal projects.
“I don’t go to work from morning to night. I’m there three or four times a week and I try to go home after six hours,” Maezawa told a packed news conference in Tokyo.
Maezawa will hitch a ride aboard Musk’s Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), which SpaceX has acknowledged may not be ready for human flight for at least five years. Maezawa said he received “safety guarantees” that allowed him to be able to invite the artists along.
He said he was most looking forward to seeing the entire Earth from space.
Maezawa is chief executive of Japan’s largest online fashion store and is the 13th richest person in Japan, with an estimated fortune of US$2.8bil, according to Forbes.
He did not deny the exposure has hugely boosted his profile.
“I was formerly known as ‘Maezawa the fashion guy’ and now its been updated to ‘Maezawa, who’s going to the moon’,” he said.