US private space agency SpaceX will live stream the BFR mission in hight-definition virtual reality, carrying Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese billionaire and the founder of Japan's largest cloth retailer Zozotown.
"Moon mission will be livestreamed in high def VR, so it'll feel like you're there in real-time minus a few seconds for speed of light," said SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
Maezawa will be the first person privately aboard the space company's upcoming Big Falcon Rocket (BFR). He intends to fly in 2023, and keen to take a group of artists with him in what could be a workshop on the moon.
"Finally, I can tell you that I choose to go to the Moon! I choose to go to the moon with artists!" Maezawa said at a SpaceX event.
Maezawa, who is 42, with a net worth of $2.9 billion, as per Forbes is known for his flamboyant life style. He has reportedly bought an expensive artwork at a whopping price of $110.5 million. His plans for organising a workshop on the moon are visibly definite as he has single-handedly bought all the seats available on the BFR rocket so that other artists can join him on the space venture. The list of people, as of now, is not declared.
"I would like to invite six to eight artists from around the world to join me on this mission to the Moon," he said. "These artists will be asked to create something after they return to Earth, and these masterpieces will inspire the dreamer within all of us."
He said he would take people from a wide range of fields, for example, painters, artists, filmmakers, and more.
Musk said that Maezawa came to SpaceX with the plan to do this flight. He declined to state the amount he paid for the flight, but the outing will be free for the artists who go with him. Musk said that the upfront money Maezawa paid was significant enough to "have a material effect on paying for cost and development of BFR."
"It makes a difference," Musk said. "He puts his money where his mouth is. He's legit." The development cost for BFR, as per Musk, will be roughly $5 billion.
SpaceX hasn't settled on specific training that Maezawa will have to go through. "Nothing is written in stone," Maezawa said through a translator. "We are going to start a discussion and decide here on forward."
