BAIKONUR (Kazakhstan) • Russia will send Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa to the International Space Station (ISS) tomorrow. The move marks Moscow's return to the now booming space tourism business after a decade-long break.
One of Japan's richest men, Mr Maezawa, 46, will blast off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, accompanied by assistant Yozo Hirano.
The mission will end a decade-long pause in Russia's space tourism programme that has not accepted tourists since Canada's Cirque du Soleil co-founder Guy Laliberte in 2009.
Mr Maezawa's launch comes at a challenging time for Russia as its space industry struggles to remain relevant and keep up with Western competitors.
Last year, the United States company SpaceX of billionaire Elon Musk ended Russia's monopoly on manned flights to the ISS after it delivered astronauts to the orbiting laboratory in its Crew Dragon capsule.
This, however, also freed up seats on Russia's Soyuz rockets that were previously purchased by the US' National Aeronautics and Space Administration, allowing Moscow to accept fee-paying tourists like Mr Maezawa.
Their three-seat Soyuz spacecraft will be piloted by Mr Alexander Misurkin, a 44-year-old Russian cosmonaut who has already been on two missions to the ISS.
The Japanese pair will spend 12 days aboard the space station where they plan to document their journey for Mr Maezawa's YouTube channel, which has more than 750,000 subscribers.
The tycoon is the founder of Japan's largest online fashion mall and the country's 30th richest man, according to Forbes.
"I am almost crying... this is so impressive," Mr Maezawa said late last month after arriving at Baikonur for the final days of preparation.
Mr Maezawa and Mr Hirano have spent the past few months training at Star City, a town outside Moscow that has prepared generations of Soviet and Russian cosmonauts.
So far, Russia has sent seven self-funded tourists to space in partnership with the US-based company Space Adventures. Mr Maezawa and Mr Hirano will be the first from Japan.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
