Japanese billionaire chooses the team he will fly around the moon with

From left to right: Caitlin Farrington, Brendan Hall, Tim Dodd, Yemi A.D., TOP, Yusaku Maezawa, Steve Aoki, Rhiannon Adam, Karim Elijah, Dev D. Joshi and Miyu

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has selected a crew for his DearMoon mission, in which he intends to send members of the arts sector on a space journey. Eight crew members and two substitutes have been chosen from more than a million people who registered on the project website, Universe Today reports.

The team included:

Steve Aoki, musician, DJ and producer,TOP (Choi Seung Hyun), South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, producer and actorYemi A.D., Czech choreographer and actorRhiannon Adam, photographer who specialises in portraits and social documentaries,Tim Dodd, creator of the YouTube channel Everyday Astronaut,Karim Elijah, photographer and filmmaker specialising in wildlife,Brendan Hall, American documentary filmmaker and night sky photographer,Dev D. Joshi, Indian actor.

In case any of the above are unable to take part in the mission, two spare crew members have been announced:

Caitlin Farrington, snowboarder and 2014 Olympic gold medallist,Miyu, a Japanese dancer, artist and model.

According to DearMoon's plan, Maezawa and his team will be sent into space by SpaceX's Starship/Super Heavy rocket, which is still in development. The mission will take about six days to circle the moon and return. DearMoon is scheduled for 2023 and will be Starship's first mission beyond Earth orbit.

Maezawa has not disclosed how much it will pay SpaceX for the DearMoon mission, but the contract is likely to be worth tens of millions of dollars. Maezawa has already visited the International Space Station in 2021.