Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa takes zero-gravity training for ISS trip in December

Yusaku Maezawa, Japan’s billionaire entrepreneur, has ramped up the preparations for his commercial trip to the International Space Station (ISS) at a training facility in Russia’s Moscow. Founder of Japan’s largest clothing retail company Zozotown, Maezawa is scheduled to blast off to the ISS on December 8 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for a 12-day space journey. Maezawa has been training for the flight for a few months now and in an interview on October 14, he said that he is not afraid ahead of the launch, as per Daily Mail. 

Maezawa to be the first Japanese tourist on ISS

Once the entrepreneur reaches the ISS, he will become the first Japanese tourist to visit the revolving observatory. To be accompanied by Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, Maezawa is undergoing three months of spaceflight training at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Russia’s Star City. Maezawa did not disclose how much he paid for his visit to space but the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) reportedly paid $81 million for each seat as it will also be sending its passengers on the Russian Soyuz MS-20 rocket. 

Under Maezawa's ongoing training in Moscow, he is accompanied by his assistant Yozo Hirano and backup participant Shun Ogiso, who are experiencing zero-gravity to get used to the conditions they will face once in space. Talking about his training in zero gravity, Maezawa said that he never experienced anything in his 45 years of life adding that their inspiration is growing, Daily Mail reported. 

Maezawa first made the headline a few months ago after buying all the seats of SpaceX's Moon trip. Maezawa had said that he will alone pay for the entire trip but would require a crew of seven people from all kinds of backgrounds. Named project 'Dear Moon', this stint with Elon Musk's SpaceX will be his second venture to the space station. Maezawa's flight will be an addition to the number of passengers flight this year with the most recent being Star Trek actor William Shatner who became the oldest person at 90 to cross the Karman line under Blue Origin's NS18 mission.

Image: Twitter/@AndyVermaut