Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is looking for eight members to join him for a free trip to the moon on Elon Musk’s SpaceX flight. He has made it clear that he would pay for the entire trip, so those who came on board the ship would fly for free.

“I want people from all types of backgrounds to be involved,” he said in a video via Twitter. He also shared a link for application details.

A mission called DearMoon is scheduled to fly in 2023.

He set two criteria for applicants that are required to meet:

  • They must advance “any activity” to “help other people and greater society in any way”, and
  • To “support other crew members”  Are prepared for those who share the same aspirations ”

Anyone meeting these two criteria can be picked up for the Moon ride. He added further that he has bought all the seats and therefore it will be a private ride.

Fashion mogul and art collector Mr. Maezawa said earlier that he planned on inviting “artists” to travel on the Starship rocket, but the adjusted project would “give people around the world a chance to join the trip”.

He posted a YouTube video on Tuesday, wherein he was seen saying that plan “has since evolved,” adding that “maybe every single person is doing something creative could be called an artist.”

Last year, in January 2020, he embarked upon a weird documentary search for a new girlfriend that could join him on the trip. The number of applications received for the same was about 27,722. AbemaTV, a Japanese streaming service, was all ready to document the mission in the form of a reality TV show which was named “Full Moon Lovers”.  But after some weeks it was cancelled, and the search was called off stating “personal reasons.” In a tweet he informed and also apologized to the AbemaTV crew and all participants.

The 42-years-old businessman, Mr. Maezawa has not disclosed how much he has paid for the trip, which brings together two eccentric billionaires who are in no danger of making global headlines.

Who is Mr. Maezawa?

The founder of Japan’s largest online fashion retailer, the Japanese entrepreneur began with selling rare CDs and records in 1998 through a company called Start Today.

The mail-order catalogue business went online at the turn of the millennium and clothing was added to its offering.

“I was the president of my company touring around the country with the band,”

he told the Japan Times earlier this year.

“When it became physically impossible to handle both, I chose my company – when I was 25 or 26 years old.”

In 2004, Maezawa launched “Zozotown”. It is a fashion e-retailer. By the time Maezawa reached his mid-30s, he was a billionaire and became the talk of the town and a celebrity worldwide.

In 2018, Mr. Maezawa was named as the first private passenger to be flown around the moon by SpaceX, a company owned by Elon Musk.

Mr. Maezawa has not disclosed how much did the trip to Moon is costing him, but according to Mr. Musk, it is “a lot of money”. This trip and mission will be the first of its kind, this Moon trip will be the first trip after 1972.