Japanese fashion billionaire Yusaku Maezawa purchased the right to be SpaceX’s first lunar tourist on a mission that’s scheduled for 2023, but he won’t be going alone. Maezawa bought all the seats on the flight, and announced plans to choose eight people to take the week-long trip to orbit the Moon with him (and two or three others). You have until March 14th to complete pre-registration on the dearMoon site before getting through “initial screening” by the 21st.
Unsurprisingly, there are a few more steps for potential candidates to take after that, but with the carrot of potentially visiting the Moon in a few years, we expect there will be plenty of applicants. Maezawa initially looked at bringing artists, but now says there are two criteria for potential tripmates. One, that they can push the envelope of whatever they do to help people and society by taking this trip, and that they’re willing and able to support fellow crewmembers in their ambitions.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also appeared in the video saying that the potential for safe transport appears “promising” by 2023, but given his relationship with deadlines, you might want to consider a flexible schedule as a third criteria for joining in.
