(From L to R) Yusaku Maezawa, Alexander Misurkin, and Yozo Hirano | Photo by SHAMIL ZHUMATOV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Three new spacefarers launched to the International Space Station this morning, a crew consisting of a Russian cosmonaut and two Japanese space tourists. One of the tourists on board was Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese billionaire who announced his intention a few years back to fly around the Moon on SpaceX’s future Starship rocket one day.
The trio lifted off on top of a Russian Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan at 2:38AM ET, docking with the space station around six hours later at 8:40AM ET. Maezawa’s crewmates include Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin and Japenese tourist Yozo Hirano, who is Maezawa’s producer and manager. The group is slated to spend roughly 12 days on the ISS before heading back to Earth on December 19th.
