Week 50, 2022: The Crew of the DearMoon Project is Officially Announced!
A 2018 concept art of a SpaceX Starship flying past the Moon during the DearMoon Project
On December 8, 2022 Yusaku Maezawa has officially announced the eight crew members and two backups that will accompany him to the future circumlunar Starship mission called DearMoon. Originally conceived in 2017 as a Crew Dragon/Falcon Heavy flight to the Moon, DearMoon is a six-day lunar tourism mission and art project scheduled for launch NET 2023, pending the test flights of Starship itself. Its primary objective is to have eight passengers travel with Maezawa for free around the Moon, where Maezawa expects that the experience of space tourism will inspire the accompanying passengers in the creation of something new. The art would be exhibited some time after returning to Earth to help promote peace around the world
Over a million people applied for the eight seats available on this mission
Source: SpaceNews
The Selected Crew of DearMoon
(From left) Farrington, Hall, Dodd, Dele, Seung-hyun, Maezawa, Aoki, Adam, Iliya, Joshi, and Miyu
PRIMARY CREW:
- Yusaku Maezawa (2), Japan
- Steve Aoki (1), USA
- Tim Dodd (1), USA
- Yemi A. Dele (1), Czech Republic
- Rhiannon Adam (1), Ireland
- Karim Iliya (1), United Kingdom
- Brendan Hall (1), USA
- Dev Joshi (1), India
- Choi Seung-hyun (1), South Korea
BACKUP CREW:
- Kaitlyn Farrington (1), USA
- Miyu (1), Japan
NOTE: The (numbers) indicate the total number of spaceflights each person above has undertaken during this mission