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This Billionaire Just Bought Tickets for the ISS, Ahead of SpaceX Moon Flight

Whereas regular people probably feel pretty happy these days to have booked a single trip in their respective country, here’s what being a billionaire is like (among other things). Japanese e-commerce tycoon Yusaku Maezawa just bought himself tickets to the ISS.
Yusaku Maezawa will be 8th private individual to spend time on the ISS, will probably turn the mission into monetized content 1 photo
Photo: Space Adventures
If the name Yusaku Maezawa rings a bell, that’s because he’s also booked to fly to the Moon with SpaceX as early as 2023. Talk about exciting, literally out-of-this-world vacation plans.

Maezawa, who is also a well-known art curator and space enthusiast, became the world’s first space tourist in 2018 when he secured tickets to the Moon on the SpaceX Big Falcon Rocket. In early 2020, he made international headlines again when he announced that he also wanted a lady friend in addition to the eight public figures (artists and politicians) he planned on taking along with him.

The search to fill out the surprise spot should have branched out into a reality show, but for whatever reason, Maezawa aborted plans shortly afterward. With time to kill, he has now bought two tickets onboard the Russian Soyuz capsule and will head out to the International Space Station (ISS) in December this year.

The new mission was announced by Space Adventures, which brokered the deal. Space Adventures also helped other space enthusiasts with deep pockets to self-fund their trips to the ISS.

Maezawa and a production assistant, accompanied by Cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, will be taking off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on December 8 for a 12-day mission. The announcement doesn’t clearly state it, but the billionaire has hinted before that he plans on taking everyone else along for the ride, which can only mean one thing: this will be documented on camera for some type of documentary or reality show.

Maezawa has already passed medical examinations and is headed into training. He will be the eighth private, self-funded guest to the ISS and Japan’s first.

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About the author: Elena Gorgan
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Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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