Tokyo, Dec 8, 2008 : Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese billionaire, set off Wednesday for a 12-day trip on Wednesday to the International Space Station (ISS), to live in space before he flies to the moon. Space.com reported that Maezawa, who had previously booked a lunar flight with SpaceX with his production assistant YozoHirano, and veteran cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin from the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos took off together with their Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft.
The flight took place at 2:38 AM EST (1.08 PM IST) on a Soyuz-2.1a rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.It was the first space tourist flight to the station since 2009, and the first launch of two selffunded spaceflight participants using a Soyuz.
Before arriving at the station, the spacecraft was expected to perform a four-orbit rendezvous with the Poisk research module and an autonomous docking.
Maezawa, Hirano, and Misurkin will spend 12 consecutive days at the station.
They will be joined by Expedition 66 commander Anton Shkaplerov, cosmonaut Pyotr Drubrov of Roscosmos, and NASA astronauts Mark Vande Hei and Raja Chari; and Matthias Maurer, European Space Agency (ESA).
Hirano will “film Maezawa’s experience at the space station” and post it on his YouTube channel.
According to the report, Maezawa, a Japanese entrepreneur in e-commerce, has a list with 100 things to do in space.These include “flying the furthest paper airplane”, “doing a TikTok Dance” and “bringing back air” from orbit.
Maezawa stated that he didn’t believe he would be able “to go to space” at a press conference before his launch.”I feel blessed to have this opportunity and to finally fulfil my dream.”
Hirano will film Maezawa and also participate in performance and human health research for the Translational Research Institute for Space Health at Baylor College of Medicine.The studies will include the collection of electrocardiogram (ECG), cognitive tests, and the use of a portable auto-refractor to collect sight data.
Hirano stated in a statement that “I am excited about participating in this research because it will help scientists reduce the health risks for future space explorations,”
According to the report, the trio will return to Earth on Soyuz MS-20.They will complete the mission by landing on the steppes of Kazakhstan on December 19.
Misurkin, 44 years old, is currently on his third spaceflight after previously serving on the Expedition 35/36 crew and Expedition 53/54 crews.Before he took off on Soyuz MS-20 Misurkin had spent 334 days in space.
Soyuz MS-20, Russia’s 66th Soyuz launched for the ISS in 2000 and 149th to fly ever since 1967, is Russia’s newest Soyuz.
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