Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has apparently had a lot of time to overthink things — like "what is art?" things — during quarantine.
In 2018, fashion magnate Maezawa (who goes by MZ) signed up to be the first rider of SpaceX's commercial trip to the moon aboard the still-in-development Starship. He has bought out all 14 seats for the multi-day journey, set to take place in 2023, that will be the first mission ever taking civilians around the moon and back.
MZ's original plan was to take eight artists on the trip who would then make art inspired by their journey. In a YouTube video posted Tuesday, however, he announced that he was opening applications to the public, because “maybe every single person is doing something creative could be called an artist.” Deep, man.
He hopes the trip and project, which he is calling "Dear Moon," will inspire the passengers to push their work to the next level. And, like, make the world a better place.
In 2020, MZ said he would hold a contest to find his romantic partner, who would accompany him on the moon trip. There would also be a documentary TV show about the search. He has since nixed those plans.
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Elon Musk makes an appearance in MZ's video announcing the new vision for the project to praise it and assure everyone that Starship is on schedule (despite the fact that SpaceX has yet to end a test flight without an explosion).
Anyone can apply for a seat here. MZ is looking for passengers from diverse backgrounds, who "can push its envelope to help other people and greater society in some way.”
In the video, MZ seems like a sweet guy with a big dream. And hey, maybe the project will change again. But at least we get this cute video announcement.
(Pro tip: skip to the six minute mark for a fun pic of MZ on Elon's shoulders).
