Maezawa Launches To ISS, Makes Video To Answer The Question Of Whether While Farting In Space Will The Body Be Pushed Forward

JAKARTA - Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa flew to the International Space Station (ISS) Wednesday December 8, from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at around 7:30 GMT (14:30 WIB).

He also plans to document the experience for his 750,000 YouTube subscribers. The genteel space fan, who is one of Japan's richest men, glides along with his assistant and film producer Yozo Hirano.

The pair will spend 12 days in a giant orbiting laboratory in space, where they also plan to answer silly questions from fans, such as 'Do you move forward when you fart in space?' and “What happens when you play Pokemon GO in space?'

Their three-seat Soyuz spacecraft, emblazoned with the Japanese flag and the 'MZ' logo for Maezawa's name, was moved to the launch pad on Sunday morning.

“'I almost cried because of my impression, it's so impressive,' said Maezawa in late November, after arriving in Baikonur for the final days of preparation for its launch, as quoted by Dailymail.co.uk.

The spacecraft was piloted by Alexander Misurkin, a 44-year-old Russian cosmonaut who has made two missions to the ISS, ending a decade-long hiatus in Russia's space tourism programme.

Maezawa and Hirano have spent the last few months training in Star City, a city outside Moscow that has prepared generations of Soviet and Russian cosmonauts. They have learned how to behave in zero gravity and special protocols in case of an emergency.

Maezawa says training on the spinning chair 'almost feels like torture'. "This is the hardest training ever," he tweeted in late November.

6日🚀】打ち上げ前のソユーズ内最終チェック。宇宙に持っていく荷物の中身や位置、船内に取り付けるGoProカメラの位置など入念にチェックしてきました。いよいよ感がヤバいです😆#前澤pic.twitter.com/PaklYWWZI5

— 12/8から宇宙旅行 (@yousuck2020) December 2, 2021

The cost of the trip to space is not clearly stated, because the price tag is kept secret by the Russian side. But previous customers have reportedly paid between $20 million and $40 million for flights to the ISS.

But chances are that the price won't drop much given that Maezawa himself has a net worth of $1.9 billion which is estimated to have been amassed by Maezawa through his company Zozo, formerly known as Start Today, which operates Japan's largest online fashion mall, ZOZOTOWN.

Despite being the country's 30th richest person, the 46-year-old tycoon is far from the traditional image of a calm Japanese businessman.

Maezawa made headlines in 2019 when he launched his search for a female companion to accompany him during his voyage around the moon on the SpaceX spacecraft, which is scheduled to launch in 2023.

But his request wasn't met, so he turned it into a quest for eight artists, who asked them to create 'a work (that) will inspire the dreamer in all of us'.

In March, he also announced that he was expanding his search beyond artists, claiming to have received one million applications for eight spots on the rocket made by Elon Musk's company.

If SpaceX could make the trip, Maezawa and his group of astronauts would be the first lunar explorers since the last US Apollo mission in 1972.

His Twitter account – which is a play on his first name: @yousuck2020 – has more than 10 million followers.

Maezawa says he is "not afraid or worried" about his trip to the ISS, and has been asking his followers for ideas for things to do in space from his followers on Twitter.

The billionaire said it didn't matter whether the idea was 'ridiculous or serious', he just wanted to give people the opportunity to participate in his space travels.

He also plans to record every activity he did during the 12-day trip for his YouTube channel and upload it while in orbit.

Maezawa's launch comes at a challenging time for Russia, as its space industry struggles to stay relevant and keep up with Western competitors in the modern space race.

Last year, US billionaire Elon Musk's company SpaceX ended Russia's monopoly on manned flights to the ISS after sending astronauts to an orbiting laboratory in its Crew Dragon capsule.

However, it also freed up seats on Russian Soyuz rockets previously purchased by NASA, allowing Moscow to accept tourists who paid the launch fees.

So far Russia has sent seven self-funded tourists into space in partnership with US-based company Space Adventures. Maezawa also plans to be the 8th and first from Japan.

In October, Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, sent actress Yulia Peresild and director Klim Shipenko to the ISS to film the film's first scenes in orbit in a bid to beat rival Hollywood projects.

But elsewhere in the world, it was also a milestone year for amateur space travel. In July, billionaire Richard Branson traveled on his Virgin Galactic spacecraft, experiencing several minutes of weightlessness before returning to Earth.

Blue Origin, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' company, also completed two missions beyond Earth's atmosphere that month. The passengers included 90-year-old Star Trek star William Shatner and Bezos himself on board.

Meanwhile, in September, SpaceX operated a historic flight that took the first civilian crew member on a three-day trip around Earth's orbit on a mission called Inspiration4.

The trip marks the beginning of the opening of space to non-professionals with more space tourism launches to be announced in the future.