[ti:Japanese Billionaire Offers Trip around the Moon]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:01.88]Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa
[00:05.64]has launched a search for eight people
[00:08.56]to join him on a trip around the moon
[00:11.32]with the American space travel company SpaceX.
[00:16.44]Maezawa announced the passenger search on Wednesday.
[00:20.96]The trip is set to take place in 2023.
[00:25.72]The selected group would become the first private passengers
[00:29.72]to travel around the moon.
[00:32.72]Back in 2018, Maezawa said
[00:35.56]he would invite only artists for the weeklong trip.
[00:40.28]But on Wednesday, he said he expanded the search
[00:43.80]to "give more people from around the globe
[00:46.76]the chance to join this journey.
[00:49.76]If you see yourself as an artist, then you are an artist."
[00:55.08]Maezawa, a former musician,
[00:57.28]is one of Japan's most colorful business leaders.
[01:01.72]The Japanese media often write about his collections
[01:05.68]of foreign and Japanese art and fast cars.
[01:11.40]Maezawa is paying the full cost of the trip on SpaceX's
[01:15.60]next-generation vehicle called Starship.
[01:20.04]Maezawa has not said how much the trip will cost him.
[01:24.36]But he says it is more than the $110 million
[01:29.12]he spent on a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting.
[01:33.36]Later this year, four private citizens
[01:36.36]will travel to the International Space Station (ISS)
[01:42.40]at the cost of $55 million each
[01:46.08]on another SpaceX vehicle, Crew Dragon.
[01:51.12]The first part of Maezawa's selection process
[01:54.32]for the moon trip runs until March 14.
[01:57.84]Candidates for the trip will need to pass medical checks first
[02:02.96]and then meet with Maezawa.
[02:06.84]"I thought there might be delays
[02:08.72]but everything is on schedule," Maezawa told reporters.
[02:13.24]"Elon Musk says there is no problem and I believe him."
[02:18.36]Musk is the billionaire founder of SpaceX.
[02:22.12]Two recent Starship models have exploded during testing.
[02:27.36]This shows the risks of space travel for Maezawa
[02:31.04]and other private passengers.
[02:34.28]The passengers also will have to deal with the physical demands of
[02:37.76]traveling outside Earth's orbit.
[02:41.16]Maezawa said he is not in training,
[02:44.12]which he expects to take a few months at most.
[02:48.20]But he added that he is drinking less alcohol and exercising more.
[02:54.24]"I'm only preparing mentally," said Maezawa,
[02:57.60]who had considered a trip to the ISS
[03:00.56]before choosing the more difficult trip to the moon.
[03:04.44]The distance from Earth to the moon is about 382,500 kilometers.
[03:12.00]Astronauts last visited the moon during NASA's Apollo program.
[03:17.40]Twenty-four men flew to the moon from 1968 through 1972.
[03:23.88]About half of them were able to reach the lunar surface.
[03:28.68]Maezawa's trip around the moon will use SpaceX's
[03:32.32]reusable Big Falcon Rocket.
[03:35.76]Musk announced the development of the 118-meter rocket in 2018.
[03:42.76]He said it is designed to send passengers to the moon and, later, to Mars.
[03:49.04]Musk said the development of the rocket is expected to cost about $5 billion.
[03:56.24]He did not say how much Maezawa is paying for the lunar trip.
[04:01.36]But he said that the Japanese businessman's payment
[04:04.64]would help the cost of development.
[04:08.04]SpaceX is competing with two other companies for space tourism money.
[04:13.52]They are Blue Origin, founded by Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos,
[04:19.28]and businessman Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.
[04:24.72]I'm Jill Robbins. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM