Nearly Half A Century Later, This Man Will Go To The Moon Thanks To Elon Musk’s SpaceX

SpaceX, in an event at its Hawthorne headquarters, California, has announced that it will be sending Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa on a trip around the moon in the year 2023 on its big falcon rocket (BFR) as early as 2023, The Verge has reported.

Maezawa is an art enthusiast and founder of Japan's biggest online fashion retail company Zozotown. He came into the limelight last year after buying paintings of an artist for over $100 million on a 1982 painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat.

“I choose to go to the moon,” said Maezawa. He is also planning to invite six to eight artists from around the world along with him on the moon mission so that they can create art after returning from the trip.

The Japanese billionaire also invited Elon Musk to accompany him on the trip to which SpaceX's CEO was, but after Maezawa insisted, Musk said that he “may be” joining him on the trip.

The Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) system was launched in 2016, but it hasn’t yet come to fruition, and the first test flight is expected in the first quarter of 2019. SpaceX is still working on its crew dragon capsule to send its first manned flight to space.