Yusaku Maezawa Announces Eight Crew Members Flying Around the Moon Aboard Starship

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 Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (Headquartered in Hawthorne, California, Founder: Elon Musk, SpaceX, Inc.).

dearMoon Crew

In March 2021, Maezawa, wishing to “open up the opportunity of going to space to more and more diverse talents“, put out a call on the official dearMoon website for crew members to join him on the moon, and received more than 1 million applications from 249 countries and regions.

The profiles and interview videos of the 8 crew members and 2 backup crew members who passed the selection, interviews, and medical check have now been released. The 8 crew members from diverse backgrounds will fly around the Moon for approximately 7 days with Maezawa and return to Earth.

Crew Profile: Alphabetical Order

Rhiannon Adam

April 19, 1985 (37)

Nationality: Ireland

Activity: Photographic artist who is currently living and working between London and the US.

Steve Aoki

November 30, 1977 (45) Nationality: United States Activity: A 2x-GRAMMY- nominated music producer, artist, fashion designer and entrepreneur.

Yemi A.D.

November 4,1981 (41) Nationality: Czech Republic Activity: Multi-disciplinary creative force, social innovator and choreographer who teaches creativity to people & organizations.

Tim Dodd

February 27, 1985 (37) Nationality: United States Activity: Content creator, photographer, videographer, and musician. Host of YouTube Channel “Everyday Astronaut”.

Brendan Hall

May 1, 1994 (28)

Nationality: United States Activity: Documentary filmmaker telling stories in the natural world and beyond.

Karim Iliya

April 20,1990 (32)

Nationality: UK

Activity: Photographer and filmmaker based in Iceland and Hawaii.

TOP / Choi Seung Hyun

November 4, 1987 (35) Nationality: South Korea Activity: Musician, award- winning film actor, and avid art collector.

Dev D. Joshi

November 28, 2000 (22) Nationality: India

Activity: Professional actor with experience of more than 18 years and social media influencer.

Backup Crew Profile

Kaitlyn Farrington

December 18, 1989 (32) Nationality: United States Activity: An Olympic Gold Medal in snowboard halfpipe in the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games.

Miyu

December 3, 1997 (25) Nationality: Japan Activity: Dancer, choreographer, and movement practitioner.

”A Message From MZ (Maezawa) – dearMoon Crew Announcement”

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”. The crew members were chosen from among those who had been openly invited from all over the world to join them in this challenge to an unknown world. In this video, Maezawa explains why he chose these crew members and how the selection process was carried out.

Comments by Yusaku Maezawa (excerpts)

We received applications from about one million people from all around the world. Following a strict screening and selection process, today we will be announcing ten crew members.

I had deep conversations with each candidate, asking them about their childhood, why they are dreaming about going to space, what kind of challenges they would like to undertake. They are all fantastic people. They all have beautiful smiles.

There isn’t a set task for each of them, but I hope each and every crewmember will recognize the responsibility that comes with leaving the Earth, traveling around the Moon and back within a week. They will gain a lot from this experience, and I hope they will use that to contribute to the planet, to humanity.

SpaceX Official Quote

“The entire SpaceX team is excited for these extraordinary people to join the dearMoon mission! As they share their experiences flying around the Moon, this crew will inspire everyone back home on planet Earth,” said Jessica Jensen, SpaceX Vice President of Customer Operations & Integration. “In advance of their flight, the SpaceX team continues to make great progress in the development of Starship, a fully and rapidly reusable interplanetary transportation system. 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.”

Born in Chiba prefecture, Japan in 1975 (age 47), he founded the company, Start Today Ltd. (currently, ZOZO, Inc.) in 1998 and launched the online fashion mall ZOZOTOWN in 2004. The company was listed on the TSE Mothers in December 2007 (3092) and on the TSE First Section in February 2012, and its market capitalization exceeded 1 trillion yen in August 2017. In September 2019, Maezawa stepped down as CEO at the same time as the company released its capital and business alliance with Yahoo Japan Corporation. Immediately after, he established Start Today Inc., and in 2021, he started thirteen of his own businesses, including his own company’s business. In December 2021, he became the first Japanese civilian to visit the ISS, spending about 12 days on board.

Elon Musk

Elon Musk is the founder and Chief Engineer of SpaceX, where he oversees the development and manufacturing of the world’s most advanced rockets and spacecraft for various space missions. As one of the world’s leading entrepreneurs and engineers, Musk is also the CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc., founder of The Boring Company; Co-founder of Neuralink; and a founding member of PayPal, an online money- transfer service.