A Japanese billionaire blasted off on a mission to the International Space Station on Wednesday, joining a growing list of billionaires who will travel to space and back.
Maezawa is on a mission to the International Space Station.
The pool is via a photo.
According to the Russian space agency, Maezawa, one of Japan's richest people, took off from the Baikonur cosmodrome.
Alexander Misurkin is the leader of the mission, as well as Maezawa and his assistant Yozo Hirano.
The journey marks the revival of Russia's space tourism industry, and the start of an expected 12-day stay on the International Space Station.
The fashion mogul spent 3 months training for the mission, which he said will finally fulfill a childhood dream.
The capsule is expected to dock at the International Space Station.
Maezawa had plans to return to space before he left. The billionaire grabbed headlines around the world when he bought the first trip around the moon from Musk. Maezawa will bring eight artists along for the ride.
The key background.
Maezawa, who founded Japan's largest online fashion mall, Zozotown, in 1998, joins the growing ranks of billionaire and civilian spacefarers. Commercial firms are now offering trips to space for those who can afford it. The race to fulfill ambitions for commercial spaceflight and space missions is moving away from massive government-funded projects of the past.
The number is big.
$2 billion. Forbes estimates how much Maezawa is worth. Maezawa was ranked among Japan's 30 richest people.
There is a structure called the Tangent.
Maezawa initially planned to fly around the moon with a female partner and solicited applications from members of the public who wanted to go into space. The idea of a reality show about the effort to find love was scrapped for personal reasons.
Jeff Bezos is one of the billionaires in space.
The billionaire space race is a terrible idea.
