Two British Photographers Among dearMoon Mission Members

11th Dec 2022
Two British Photographers Among dearMoon Mission Members

Space travel is closer than you think as humanity resumed its interest in Moon flights after a 50-year-long pause with the Artemis I mission. dearMoon is to become the first civilian-only mission to the Moon, and the selection process for this space trip is over.

Yusaku Maezawa, a Japanese billionaire who came up with the idea, announced that eight artists will accompany him on the Moon flight. A London-based photographer and a photographer of British origin are on the list of crewmates. There are also two reserve crewmates training with the team.

Maezawa hopes that this exclusive experience will inspire the artists to create something original. Once back on Earth, the artworks will be displayed with the aim to promote world peace.

Irish and British Artists to Fly to the Moon and Back

Yusaku Maezawa himself selected the project winners who would make him a company during the first-ever civilian Moon flight. The mission finalists list includes two world-famous photographers related to the UK. One of the eight crew members will be London-based artist Rhiannon Adam. Another lucky photographer and filmmaker to get on the spaceship will be Karim Iliya, who was born in the UK.

Karim Iliya has been published in National Geographic Magazine and BBC Earth. He is also a co-founder of Kogia. This project is a non-profit media library and film team working to promote ocean conservation.

Rhiannon Adam, who was born in Ireland, has also won numerous awards, including the Meitar Award for Excellence in Photography. In addition, she was named one of The Photographers’ Gallery’s New Talents in 2019. News media, including but not limited to Le Monde, The Telegraph, the BBC, The British Journal of Photography, Stern, Huffington Post, and the New York Times have featured her works. She has also authored three books.

Who else is going on the dearMoon mission?

Other billionaire’s crewmates include GRAMMY-nominated music producer Steve Aoki, Tim Dodd from the “Everyday Astronaut,” artist and choreographer Yemi A.D., documentary filmmaker Brendan Hall, Indian actor and influencer Dev Joshi, and South Korean artist T.O.P. Two backup members include dancer Miyu, and snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington.

In 2021, Yusaku Maezawa made the selection process available to everyone, inviting aspiring lunar explorers to sign up for a seat on the Starship and then create videos explaining why they want to travel to space.

After the application period started, he shared that there were over 1 million applicants from basically “every single country” across the world.

What’s the dearMoon project?

DearMoon project, is the first mission to the Moon by civilian crew members, It is planned for launch in 2023. A SpaceX Starship rocket will fly around the Moon and return the crew back home. If everything goes as planned, the dearMoon mission will beat out the Artemis II flight, which is expected to occur no earlier than May 2024.

In 2018, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, a wealthy online fashion entrepreneur, purchased all the seats aboard this rocket. In March 2021, he shared his plan to choose eight people from around the world and let them join him and share this space travel experience. Maezawa did not specify what the requirements were to join the expedition when applications started in August 2021.

I hope each and everyone will recognize the responsibility that comes with leaving the Earth, traveling to the Moon and back.

Yusaku Maezawa

The announcement of the crewmates came after a controversial billionaire’s “girlfriend contest.” Back in 2018, Yusaku Maezawa had been looking for women aged 20 or older to apply to be his girlfriend and the “first woman to the moon” on Twitter. After an intense backlash, the businessman apologised and withdrew his offer.

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