<p class="title">A Japanese billionaire and online fashion tycoon, Yusaku Maezawa, will be the first man to fly on a monster SpaceX rocket around the Moon as early as 2023, and he plans to bring six to eight artists along.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Maezawa, 42, will be the first lunar traveller since the last US Apollo mission in 1972. He paid an unspecified amount of money for the privilege.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Ever since I was a kid, I have loved the Moon," Maezawa said at SpaceX headquarters and rocket factory in Hawthorne, California, in the middle of metropolitan Los Angeles, late Monday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This is my lifelong dream."</p>.<p class="bodytext">He added: "I choose to go to the Moon... with artists!"</p>.<p class="bodytext">He said he wanted to invite artists from various fields including painters, sculptors, photographers, musicians, film directors, fashion designers and architects.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"If you should hear from me, please say yes and accept my invitation. Please don't say no!," Maezawa added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Maezawa is chief executive of Japan's largest online fashion mall, and is the 18th richest person in Japan with a fortune of $3 billion, according to the business magazine <span class="italic"><em>Forbes</em></span>.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Maezawa's other hobby is amassing valuable works of modern art and last year, he announced the acquisition of a Jean-Michel Basquiat masterpiece worth $110.5 million.</p>.<p class="bodytext">His love of art led him to decide to invite artists to come along, he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I would like to invite six to eight artists from around the world to join me on this mission to the Moon," Maezawa said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"They will be asked to create something after they return to Earth. These masterpieces will inspire the dreamer within all of us."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Until now, Americans are the only ones who have left Earth's orbit. A total of 24 Nasa astronauts -- all white men -- voyaged to the Moon during the Apollo era of the 1960s and '70s. Twelve walked on the lunar surface.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The first space tourist was Dennis Tito, an American businessman who in 2001 paid some $20 million to fly on a Russian spaceship to the International Space Station. </p>.<p class="bodytext">SpaceX CEO Elon Musk described Maezawa as the "bravest" and "best adventurer."</p>.<p class="bodytext">"He stepped forward," Musk added. "We are honoured that he chose us."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Musk said he would not reveal the price Maezawa paid for the Moon trip, but said it would be "free for the artists."</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This is dangerous, to be clear. This is no walk in the park," Musk cautioned.</p>
<p class="title">A Japanese billionaire and online fashion tycoon, Yusaku Maezawa, will be the first man to fly on a monster SpaceX rocket around the Moon as early as 2023, and he plans to bring six to eight artists along.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Maezawa, 42, will be the first lunar traveller since the last US Apollo mission in 1972. He paid an unspecified amount of money for the privilege.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Ever since I was a kid, I have loved the Moon," Maezawa said at SpaceX headquarters and rocket factory in Hawthorne, California, in the middle of metropolitan Los Angeles, late Monday.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This is my lifelong dream."</p>.<p class="bodytext">He added: "I choose to go to the Moon... with artists!"</p>.<p class="bodytext">He said he wanted to invite artists from various fields including painters, sculptors, photographers, musicians, film directors, fashion designers and architects.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"If you should hear from me, please say yes and accept my invitation. Please don't say no!," Maezawa added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Maezawa is chief executive of Japan's largest online fashion mall, and is the 18th richest person in Japan with a fortune of $3 billion, according to the business magazine <span class="italic"><em>Forbes</em></span>.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Maezawa's other hobby is amassing valuable works of modern art and last year, he announced the acquisition of a Jean-Michel Basquiat masterpiece worth $110.5 million.</p>.<p class="bodytext">His love of art led him to decide to invite artists to come along, he said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"I would like to invite six to eight artists from around the world to join me on this mission to the Moon," Maezawa said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"They will be asked to create something after they return to Earth. These masterpieces will inspire the dreamer within all of us."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Until now, Americans are the only ones who have left Earth's orbit. A total of 24 Nasa astronauts -- all white men -- voyaged to the Moon during the Apollo era of the 1960s and '70s. Twelve walked on the lunar surface.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The first space tourist was Dennis Tito, an American businessman who in 2001 paid some $20 million to fly on a Russian spaceship to the International Space Station. </p>.<p class="bodytext">SpaceX CEO Elon Musk described Maezawa as the "bravest" and "best adventurer."</p>.<p class="bodytext">"He stepped forward," Musk added. "We are honoured that he chose us."</p>.<p class="bodytext">Musk said he would not reveal the price Maezawa paid for the Moon trip, but said it would be "free for the artists."</p>.<p class="bodytext">"This is dangerous, to be clear. This is no walk in the park," Musk cautioned.</p>