--- title: "Billionaire Playboy Boards International Space Station" description: "Japanese Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is now, officially, a bonafide space cowboy." date: "2021-12-08" modified: "2021-12-08" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/billionaire-boards-international-space-station" categories: - "International Space Station" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "international space station" - "space tourism" - "the digest" - "yusaku maezawa" --- # Billionaire Playboy Boards International Space Station ![Japanese Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is now, officially, a bonafide astronaut.]() *\Image: Roscosmos \* ## Space Cowboys Japanese Billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is now, officially, a bonafide astronaut. As International Space Station watchers on Twitter have noted, the e-commerce magnate has successfully boarded the International Space Station after [taking off from our pale blue dot]() in a Russian Soyuz rocket early this morning. https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1468615143030460420 ## Japan's Bezos Maezawa, who made his multi-billion dollar fortune founding and then selling off the Japanese fashion e-retailer Zozotown, took off from a Soyuz launch site in Kazakhstan with his production assistant Yozo Hirano and the Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. The Japanese billionaire and art collector is the first space tourist in more than a decade to board the ISS, and his 12-day trip is a precursor to a planned SpaceX Starship voyage to the Moon that's currently slated for 2023 at earliest. He was [the first person to buy such a trip from SpaceX](), back in 2018. Famously, Maezawa and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk have offered to [fully fund the space travel expenses for eight people](). He also infamously began searching for a girlfriend to travel to the Moon with him in early 2020, [only to cancel the search]() and the reality show he was going to star in and produce in about it, likely because the cringe factor was too high. Ahead of the Soyuz launch, [Maezawa told reporters]() he felt "like an elementary school student about to go on \[an\] outing,” and that he had never thought he'd be able to achieve his "dream." And if looks are any indication, he's just as excited to be in orbit as he was to take off. **READ MORE:** *[Check Out How Stoked This Billionaire Is to Leave Our Dying Planet]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()