Steve Aoki will be part of the crew of the first civilian space mission to the Moon.
The week-long mission will take place next year, with a final crew of eight flying to the Moon on a rocket developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company.
The mission is part of the DearMoon Project, a lunar tourism and art project created and funded by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. He bought all the places on the rocket in 2018 to give them “to the most talented people” [vía Mixmag].
“Since I was little I dreamed of going to the Moon. Every day it is more true,” said Aoki in response to the news. “It’s still hard to believe, but I’m very excited and grateful for this amazing once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. To the Moon!”
More than a million people applied to participate in the project. K-pop star TOP will also take part in the mission, becoming the first South Korean civilian to visit the Moon. They will be joined by filmmaker Brendan Hall, YouTuber Tim Dodd (who runs the EverydayAstronaut channel), photographer Karim Illiya, actor Dev Joshi, artist Yemi AD and photographer Rhiannon Adam.
Maezawa spoke about the project: “I’m excited to have these amazing people join me on my journey to the Moon and excited to see what inspiring creations they come up with in space.”
Aoki recently collaborated with Taking Back Sunday, who he teamed up with earlier this year for new single “Just Us Two”. Aoki then remixed his 2002 hit “Cute Without The E”.
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