There is a Japanese billionaire who is likely to be the first to ride on the SpaceX’s future deep-space rocket, Yusaku Maezawa. What’s spectacular about the Japanese billionaire is the fact that he has launched a somewhat bizarre campaign whereby he’d select a Female Partner with whom he’ll fly to the Moon.
According to the special website created for the campaign, it’s made clear that Maezawa isn’t just seeking some side fling but a serious companion that’ll be by his side while he explores the outer space.
“[Maezawa] has a long-held dream of going into space,” the website states. “He wants to visit such a special place together with a special someone.”
The website also promotes this as a serious matchmaking event which will infact be documented as a reality TV show called the “Full Moon Lovers” and is set to air on the Japanes streaming service Abema TV.
Anyone is permitted to join the contest in as much as you’re single and over the age of 20 with bright personalities and want to enjoy life to the fullest as well as wanting a wold of peace.
You’ll also have to be interested in going to space.“HE WANTS TO VISIT SUCH A SPECIAL PLACE TOGETHER WITH A SPECIAL SOMEONE.”
So whoever wins the lottery will fly alongside Maezawa in the SpaceX’s next-generation Starship rocket which is a massive spacecraft the company is building to transport people into the deep-space destinations like the Moon or Mars when we are eventually ready to move out of Earth.
Since the year 2018, it’s been announced that Maezawa had put down a load of deposit to become the first private customer to ride on the Starship once it’s completely built and ready. Although the trip isn’t that they’ll land on the surface of the planet but they’ll travel around it before returning back to Earth. SpaceX didn’t say how much he paid, but CEO Elon Musk noted that it was enough to help partially pay for the development of the vehicle.
“He puts his money where his mouth is,” Musk said at the time. “He’s legit.”
Even after the announcement was made, Maezawa also announced that he’d paid for an additional seats on the vehicle on which he intends to take about 6 to 8 artists along with him on the trip.
“These artists will be asked to create something after they return to Earth, and these masterpieces will inspire the dreamer within all of us,” Maezawa said during the announcement at SpaceX’s headquarters in California. Now it seems that one of those seats will be going to whomever wins this contest.
But in case you wonder who Maezawa is, he’s the founder of Japan’s largest online retailer called ZozoTown and he has a reported networth of about $2 Billion based on Forbes estimations. Other prominent things he do includes art collection. He in fact broke the record for the most retweeted tweet after he announced that he’ll split 1 billion yen between a random group of 1000 people who shared his tweet about the contest. This message eventually got retweeted more than 4 million times.
According to Maezawa on his website said he’ll now be focusing on the competition stating that after two decades of running his company, he’s now ready to settle down with someone in his life.
“As feelings of loneliness and emptiness slowly begin to surge upon me, there’s one thing that I think about: Continuing to love one woman,” he writes. Maezawa said he was originally embarrassed to take part in the documentary but is now hopeful he’ll find his life partner. “With that future partner of mine, I want to shout our love and world peace from outer space,” he writes.“WITH THAT FUTURE PARTNER OF MINE, I WANT TO SHOUT OUR LOVE AND WORLD PEACE FROM OUTER SPACE.”
If you’re willing to join on the competition, it’ll be due by January 17th with the selections made at the end of the month. Those who are selected will then go on for the matchmaking dates as well as “Special dates getting to know Yuzuku Maezawa” in February and March.
Then a “final decision on partner” will then be made by end of March, according to the website.
Although it’s not 100% certain yet if the winner of the contest will get to fly on the SpaceX’s vehicle despite Elon Musk retweeting Maezawa’s announcement about the campaign. Request for comments about this from the SpaceX got no response.
As for the SpaceX Starship, it’s definitely not ready yet to be boarded as there is a ton of work to still be done on the vehicle. The company is constantly testing things out at it’s test site in Boca Chica, Texas.
Meanwhile, it’s noteworthy that the company is getting some positive results on its development of its space vehicles. For example, the company did a performed a low altitude flight with one test vehicle and also unveiled a prototype version of the Starship rocket which it said would fly for the first time last year and reach orbit early this year.
But it was unfortunate that the vehicle exploded it’s top during a pressure test leading the company to rebuild an entire Starship vehicle for testing.
Musk even tweeted in December that the first flight could be two to three months away, though the CEO is notoriously optimistic with his timeline predictions.
Meanwhile there is definitely still alot for the company to develop and tons of hardware fixes in order to ensure safety for humans on board. The Super Heavy, which is a Booster rocket needs to be built in order to get the Starship into the deep-space. But the company’s President, Gwyne Shotwell revealed that the Starship could start an uncrewed mission just by 2022 which will be really nice.