Japanese Billionaire Picks 8 Artists For 'First Civilian Space Mission' To Moon; Indian Actor Dev Joshi In The Crew

Indian actor Dev Joshi is one of the 8 lucky people on the planet to accompany Mayzawa on the journey to the moon and back. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Mezawa has announced the names of eight crew members to accompany him on the 'Dear Moon' mission, a planned trip around the moon in 2023 on a SpaceX rocket. Indian actor Dev Joshi is one of the 8 lucky people on the planet to accompany Mayzawa on the journey to the moon and back. Maizawa, who made his fortune as an online fashion retailer, said he would release the names of his crew members for the Dear Moon mission, but later change the entry requirements to a competition for which applicants can apply online. The eight crew members of the Dear Moon mission are American DJ and producer Steve Aoki, American YouTuber Tim Todd; Czech artist Yemi Eddy; Irish photographer Rhiannon Adam; British photographer Karim Ilyal; American filmmaker Brendan Hall; Indian actor Dev Joshi and South Korean K-pop artist TOP. "It's been a year and a half since MZ first opened access to the beloved Moon to the public in search of artists to join it on this lunar orbit mission. After numerous visits, medical examinations and face-to-face meetings, we are finally ready to announce the crew members who will be on board SpaceX's starships to the Moon. will join MZ on this extraordinary journey,” said Maezawa. Each crew member was briefly introduced in a video posted online by Maezawa. "I hope that each and every person will recognize the responsibility that comes with leaving Earth, traveling to the moon and back," Maezawa says in the video in Japanese, with a translation provided in the video. The dearMoon website describes the project as "the first civilian mission to take place in 2023". A rocket developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX will travel to the moon and back in a week. Maizawa bought all the seats on the rocket in 2018, hoping to give artists from around the world a chance to travel to the moon, he said, in 2021.