Another billionaire is blasting into space — and he said he'll give away cash to people on earth while he's in orbit
- Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is going on a 12-day space trip on Wednesday.
- He said on Twitter he will be giving away money from space.
Another billionaire is blasting off into space, and this time, Japanese fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa says he'll give away money while he's orbiting the earth.
Maezawa is set to depart from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Wednesday on a 12-day trip to the International Space Station. He announced on Twitter last month that he'd be giving away cash from space, though he did not specify how much money he'd hand out or how.
"I'm excited. I feel like an elementary school student about to go on an outing," Maezawa said at a news conference, according to Reuters. "I didn't think I would be able to go to space. I used to like the starry sky and heavenly bodies. I feel fortunate to have this opportunity and to finally fulfill my dream," he said.
Maezawa founded Zozotown, one of Japan's most prominent fashion marketplaces, and sold it to Softbank in 2019. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, he is currently worth $3.4 billion.
The 46-year-old has a history of giving away money on Twitter. Last year, he announced he'd be giving 1,000 of his Twitter followers 1 million yen ($9,000) each. Winners of Maezawa's cash handouts previously receive them via bank transfers, reported Bloomberg, though he has yet to specify how his space cash awards will be distributed.
Maezawa has been documenting preparations for his space sojourn for months on Twitter. His assistant Yozo Hirano and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin are to accompany him on the trip. Local Japanese media estimates Maezawa spent more than 100 billion Japanese yen ($88 million) on the journey.
The 12-day trip is something of a prelude to an elaborate space mission to the moon Maezawa has scheduled with Elon Musk's SpaceX for 2023. In January 2020, he announced he was specifically looking for a romantic "female partner" to accompany him to the moon but later called off the search.