According to foreign media reports, at 12:38 local time on the 8th, Japanese billionaire Maezawa Yusaku, accompanied by his assistant Yozo Hirano, flew to the International Space Station with Russian astronaut Alexander Misulkin on the Russian Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft, thus launching a 12-day space journey.
It is reported that nearly six hours after the launch, they successfully arrived at the Outpost of the International Space Station, and it is expected that in a few hours, they will be able to open the spacecraft hatch to enter the space station.
Maezawa became the first visitor to the International Space Station at his own expense in a decade and may become the first private circumlunar travel customer in 2023
With the successful launch of the Russian Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa became the first space visitor to the International Space Station at his own expense since 2009, and the 8th person ever.
Tomosaku Maezawa, 46, is a well-known Collector and Entrepreneur in Japan. In 2004, Maezawa founded Zozotown, a clothing e-commerce site that has become Japan's largest apparel retailer. As of April 2021, he is ranked 30th in the 2021 Forbes Japan Rich List with a fortune of US$1.9 billion.
On the eve of his flight to the International Space Station, Maezawa said he felt like a schoolboy on an outing.
At the same time, he said: "I didn't expect to be able to go to space, I used to love the stars and celestial bodies." I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity to realize my dreams. I want to see the Earth from space, and I want to experience the feeling of weightlessness. ”
It is reported that in order to be able to successfully reach space in space by spaceship, Maezawa Yusaku and his assistants began to enter a three-month related training in June. At the same time, in order to better communicate with trainers and astronauts, he also worked hard to learn Russian. During training, Maezawa yusaku said that he liked parabolic flight, but weightless training in a swivel chair was difficult.
On this 12-day space tour, Maezawa Will try a variety of interesting things at the space station, including bringing air back from the space station, playing yo-yo, blowing bubbles, playing badminton, puzzles, splitting legs, trying to shoot the aurora and so on.
Previously, Maezawa Hadsaku had publicly solicited public opinions on what to do in space, and later compiled a list of "100 things to do in space."
Yusaku Maezawa's assistant Yozo Hirano will document the journey throughout the space journey.
"I'm curious about what life in space is like. So I plan to find out for myself and share it with the world on my social media accounts," Maezawa said in a statement.
Of course, this will not be the only space trip maezawa Yusaku has made.
As early as 2018, Maezawa became elon Musk's SpaceX company's first private circumlunar travel customer, planning to fly to the moon in 2023 with eight artists on SpaceX's starship.
This space flight is obviously just the beginning for Maezawa Yusaku.
This year's space travel 6th fly 2021 or the beginning of the second golden age of space travel
As humanity enters a new space age, the mysterious starry sky that was once out of reach seems to be opening up to more people.
In April 2001, Dennis Tito, founder and CEO of the American Company of Wilsia, landed on the space station on a Russian spacecraft, becoming the first self-funded space tourist in history.
Since then, South African entrepreneur Ubuntu founder Mark Chartrolworth, American billionaire Gregory Olson, Iranian-American telecommunications strongwoman Anush Ansari, Microsoft chief architect and father of word Charles Simone (two space trips), the father of the classic game "Genesis" Richard Garriott, and the Canadian Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Lalibert have achieved space travel in the same way.
It wasn't until 2009 that Russia stopped transporting space tourists to the space station due to the increase in the number of staff planned for the International Space Station.
This temporarily stalled the first space tourism craze.
Even so, the plutocrats' enthusiasm for exploring space did not wane, and in the decade since, private commercial aviation companies have flourished, contributing to the resurgence of space tourism.
Since 2021, space travel has been carried out by private commercial aviation companies on 4 occasions.
On July 11, Richard Branson, founder of space tourism company Virgin Galactic, successfully returned from an 85.9-kilometer orbit aboard spaceship 2, becoming the first founder of a commercial space company to land in space.
On July 20, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Blue Origin, successfully crossed the 100-kilometer-high Carmen Line (the boundary line between space and the atmosphere) into space on a new Shepard rocket, stayed in weightlessness for about 3 minutes, and successfully completed a soft landing.
On September 16, Elon Musk's commercial space company SpaceX conducted mankind's first 3-day all-civilian space trip.
On October 13, the "Captain Kirk" actor in the TV series "Star Trek", 90-year-old William Shatner, flew to space aboard the Blue Origin company's New Shepard capsule, a trip that lasted more than 10 minutes, and then landed in the Texas desert.
In addition, on October 5, the world's first space film crew entered the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz MS-19 and filmed part of a film.
Maezawa's 12-day space trip became the sixth flight of space travel in 2021.
"When we did this 10 or 15 years ago, a lot of people didn't know they could fly into space as ordinary citizens. But now in 2021, as more and more people achieve space travel, we are gradually beginning to dare to imagine travel in space. Tom Shelley, president of Space Adventures, a U.S. space exploration company that planned Mazawa's space trip, said in an interview.
Of course, it is undeniable that these current space tourists are all top rich people with great wealth.
Existing and of-cited space tourism experiences include $5,000 for parabolic flight, $10,000 for high-altitude flight, $100,000 for suborbital flight, and $20 million for orbital flight.
The first three of these are not really space travel, and if you want to experience real space tourism, that is, orbital flight, you need a minimum of $20 million. Space travel to the International Space Station is currently priced at between $50 million and $60 million.
It is reported that it is not clear the amount that Maezawa Yu paid as a space tourism project, but according to the market price estimate, it should not be less than $50 million.
Wuhan Morning Post intern reporter Zhang Jiao