Japanese billionaire entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa and his assistant Yozo Hirano will travel to the International Space Station (ISS) on the Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft in December 2021. This was announced on Thursday, May 13, by the company Space Adventures.
"Space Adventures, Inc. announces that Yusaku Maezawa has begun preparations for a mission to the International Space Station, having successfully passed the necessary medical examinations. He and his business assistant, Yozo Hirano, plan to fly the Russian Soyuz MS-20 from the Baikonur cosmodrome on December 8, 2021, " the statement said.
It is noted that the duration of the flight of Japanese tourists will be 12 days. The spacecraft will be operated by Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin.
The three-month training for the flight will take place directly at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. It will start in June, the company concluded.
On April 21, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin announced that space tourists will be able to visit the new Russian space station. According to him, the object should become national, without "the framework, restrictions that always arise with international cooperation."
On September 2, 2020, Russia offered space tourists a longer stay in orbit — up to 30 days instead of the standard 10. Tourists are offered to go into outer space, prepare for a flight in zero gravity with the help of special aircraft, develop and assist in the implementation of their own scientific program in orbit.
