ORLANDO, Fla. — Start Today Inc. CEO Yusaku Maezawa has released the names of the first all-civilian crew who will undertake the first private moon mission on SpaceX’s Starship.
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Maezawa posted the announcement on the dearMoon website and YouTube channel on Thursday.
The 10-member crew — including eight crew members and two backups — was selected after Maezawa conducted interviews with the candidates about their interest in space and why they would want to be part of the mission.
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The list includes artists from all genres of music, photography and film.
Crew for Moon Trip Selected!!#dearMoonCrew @dearmoonprojecthttps://t.co/P0vEZ6Cibo
— Yusaku Maezawa (MZ) (@yousuckMZ) December 8, 2022
“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,” Maezawa said.
In December 2021, Maezawa took his first civilian trip into space and stayed on the International Space Station.
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Maezawa then began organizing the “first all-civilian trip around the Moon in the history of mankind.”
SpaceX’s Starship is still going through testing in Texas, and no test launch date has been set by SpaceX.
“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,” said SpaceX’s Vice President of Customer Operations & Integration Jessica Jensen.
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