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Billionaire and Japanese fashion mogul Yusaku Maezawa poses with SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in front of a print of a Falcon 9 rocket on September 18, 2018.Yusaku Maezawa / Twitter
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Yusaku Maezawa plans to sell Yahoo Japan a 30% stake in his online fashion retail company, Zozo. As part of the $ 3.7 billion public bid, Maezawa will resign with $ 2.3 billion.
- During a press conference, Maezawa reportedly said that one of the main reasons for his departure from Zozo was to take the time to train for a trip around the moon in 2023 with Starship : a new rocket system designed by SpaceX.
- Maezawa also said he planned to embark on a less ambitious space flight around the Earth before his "#dearmoon" mission with SpaceX, founded by technology mogul Elon Musk.
- SpaceX is feverishly working in South Texas and Florida to develop and test the prototype launch of the system. Once completed, the spacecraft can be 400 feet tall and fully reusable.
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Yusaku Maezawa, a key investor in SpaceX's next-generation rocket system called Starship, plans to sell Yahoo Japan a 30% stake in its online fashion retailer, Zozo.
As part of the $ 3.7 billion public offering, Maezawa will step down as Zozo's CEO, earn approximately $ 2.3 billion in cash and retain a 6% stake in the company he has founded, according to Forbes.
Yusaku Maezawa poses with a spaceship model and SpaceX space suit helmet before a press conference in Tokyo on October 9, 2018.Koji Sasahara / AP PhotoMaezawa spoke about the deal at a touching press conference about two o'clock on Thursday. Although he expressed doubts about how he has managed the company in recent years, regretting the mistakes that have hurt the profitability of the company, Mr. Forbes explained that he had rationalized his departure in another way, much more personal: the need to prepare his flight of 2023 moon inside the ship.
Maezawa also said that he wanted to embark on a less ambitious space flight before the circum-space trip financed by SpaceX private funds.
"Sailing to go to space will take up a lot of my time," Maezawa was quoted as saying.
Maezawa first announced his bid for a one week flight around the moon aboard a spaceship during a presentation in September 2018 on the launch system by Elon Musk, founder and CEO of SpaceX. (It was then called Big Falcon Rocket and has since been redefined and renamed Starship, but the main goals and capabilities of the device remain the same.)
The fashion mogul, who is also a passionate collector of art, christened his experimental mission #dearMoon. He plans to choose a crew including a "painter, a musician, a director" and other artists – and maybe a couple of astronauts – "inspire the dreamer in each of us" with the trip.
When a journalist questioned Musk about his possible participation in the #dearMoon mission, he said (apparently half serious), "maybe we'll both be on the same boat".
Musk says progress on Starship is accelerating "exponentially"
Starhopper – the first prototype of SpaceX's SpaceX spacecraft – flies over its launch pad during a test flight to Boca Chica, Texas on August 27, 2019.Trevor Mahlmann / Reuters
If Musk realizes the spacecraft as it is currently envisioned, it will be a two – stage vehicle with a steel body of approximately 400 feet in height. It would also be the largest, most powerful and most affordable launch system in the world because, unlike all orbital class rockets, it would be fully reusable.
Musk said that he could fend off NASA on the lunar surface with Starship and launch the first humans on Mars with the system, perhaps 100 at a time. Musk is also developing an even larger version of Starship, which is beyond the bounds of imagination.
Read more: SpaceX targets these 9 locations on Mars for its first Starship rocket missions
Musk estimated in 2018 that the development of the first fully operational ship system would cost between $ 2 billion and $ 10 billion. Maezawa would not have revealed last year how much he was paying for SpaceX for the trip, although his investment goes hand in hand with simultaneous Starship development efforts in Boca Chica, Texas, and Cocoa, Fla. .
Illustration of the next SpaceX spacecraft (left), the Super Heavy propeller (right) and the Starship-Super Heavy integrated launch system (center).© Kimi Talvitie"Progress is accelerating", Musk tweeted in August on the Starship development program, later add that it moves "exponentially".
SpaceX began construction of its first prototype, Starhopper, at its launch site in Boca Chica in late 2018. After a few test launches or "jumps" in April and July, the vehicle – which is essentially a flying test bed for the new Raptor rocket engines – made its last experimental launch of Texas in August. The last flight caused Starhopper in the air about 150 meters (490 feet) before landing on a nearby concrete platform.
SpaceX is now attempting to complete two orbital class prototypes, named Starship Mk 1 and Mk 2 in Texas and Florida, respectively.
Recent FAA documents refer to this part of Starship's "Phase 3" development program. As part of this phase, Musk tweeted on August 28, SpaceX will attempt to launch Starship Mk 1 about 20 km above Texas in October, before the company attempts an orbital launch "shortly after".
Musk added that he would provide an update on the entire Starship development program on September 28th. Previously, he had announced that he would present this presentation from Boca Chica (Texas), probably in an appropriate context.
"The Mk 1 spacecraft will be fully assembled at that time," he said.
SpaceX representatives did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request regarding Maezawa's latest remarks, the #dearMoon mission or the Starship development program.
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