The First All-Civilian Mission to Fly Around the Moon Aboard SpaceX's StarShip

Yusaku Maezawa Announces Eight Crewmembers aboard Starship Lunar Mission 

 NEW YORK, Dec. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Yusaku Maezawa (CEO, Start Today, Inc.) announced that 8 crew members and 2 backup crew members have been selected for "dearMoon," the first all-civilian project to fly around the Moon aboard Starship, a rocket being developed by SpaceX.

In March 2021, Maezawa, put out a call on the official dearMoon websitefor the opportunity of going to space to more diverse talents, and received more than 1 million applications from 249 countries and regions.

The 8 crew members will fly around the Moon for approximately 7 days with Maezawa and return to Earth.

The primary crew is:

• Steve Aoki: 2x-GRAMMY nominated music producer, artist, fashion designer and entrepreneur
• Rhiannon Adam: Photographic artist
• Tim Dodd: Content creator, photographer, videographer, and musician. Host of YouTube Channel "Everyday Astronaut"
• Yemi A.D.: Multi-disciplinary creative force, social innovator, and choreographer
• Brendan Hall: Documentary filmmaker
• Karim Iliya: Photographer and filmmaker
• TOP / Choi Seung Hyun: Musician, award winning film actor, and avid art collector
• Dev D. Joshi: Professional actor and social media influencer

There are two backup crew members, US Olympic gold medal snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington and Japanese dancer and choreographer Miyu.

Maezawa fulfilled his dream of going to space by staying on the International Space Station (ISS) in December 2021. His next challenge is this first all-civilian trip around the Moon in the history of mankind.

"We received applications from about one million people from all around the world… [The crew] are all fantastic people," shared Maezawa.  "There isn't a set task for each of them, but I hope each crewmember will recognize the responsibility that comes with leaving the Earth... They will gain a lot from this experience, and I hope they will use that to contribute to the planet, to humanity."

"The entire SpaceX team is excited for these extraordinary people to join the dearMoon mission," said Jessica Jensen, SpaceX Vice President of Customer Operations & Integration. "We look forward to flying this crew of artists, content creators, and athletes from all around the world who will travel within 200 km of the lunar surface as they complete a full journey around the Moon before safely returning to Earth."

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SOURCE Start Today Inc.