Space Adventures’ Client, Yusaku Maezawa, Plans for Mission to the International Space Station
Passes medical review required to commence spaceflight training
May 13, 2021 — Space Adventures, Inc., the world’s leading space experiences company, announced that Yusaku Maezawa has begun preparations for a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) by successfully passing the required medical examinations. He and his production assistant, Yozo Hirano, are planning to launch on the Russian Soyuz MS-20 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on December 8, 2021.
The duration of the spaceflight will be 12 days and will be commanded by Cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. Mr. Maezawa and his crew will begin approximately three months of spaceflight training in June at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia.
“I’m so curious ‘what’s life like in space’? So, I am planning to find out on my own and share with the world on my YouTube channel,” said Yusaku Maezawa.
“We are excited for Maezawa-san, and we are honored to have enabled this opportunity for him to fly to space,” said Eric Anderson, Chairman and CEO of Space Adventures, Inc. “He will be flying on the respected Soyuz spacecraft, visiting the space station as have our previous space flight participant (SFP) clients. This is the first time two SFPs will fly together, and the first tourist mission to the ISS in a decade! Welcome to space, Yusaku!”
Space Adventures has been cooperating with Roscosmos since the world’s first space tourist flight in 2001. In total, seven self-funded individuals have visited the space station and Mr. Maezawa plans to be the 8th and the first from Japan.
About Yusaku Maezawa
Yusaku Maezawa, CEO of Start Today, Ltd., is a Japanese e-commerce entrepreneur and world-renowned art collector. He founded ZOZO, Ltd., a publicly traded online retail clothing business, which he sold to Yahoo! Japan in 2019. Along with the Soyuz MS-20 mission to the ISS, he also plans to participate in a circumlunar mission onboard SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft currently scheduled to launch in 2023.
About Yozo Hirano
Yozo Hirano joined ZOZO, Ltd. after graduating from university where he became the casting director of the photography team. Currently, he is working at SPACETODAY as a film producer. On the ISS, Mr. Hirano will be responsible for documenting Mr. Maezawa’s mission.
About Space Adventures
Space Adventures organized the flights for the world’s first private astronauts (Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Greg Olsen, Anousheh Ansari, Charles Simonyi, Richard Garriott and Guy Laliberté) and today offers a variety of spaceflight missions to low-Earth orbit, the International Space Station, and beyond.