dearMoon billionaire selects DJ, YouTuber, and others for 1st private SpaceX lunar mission

More than five years after Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa stood alongside SpaceX founder Elon Musk and announced his intent to become the first private citizen to fly around the moon, the since-named "dearMoon" mission on Friday named a roster of photographers, actors, musicians, and internet personalities set to join Maezawa on his journey.

In a short video introducing the newly-announced crew, acclaimed DJ Steve Aoki — one of the eight civilians tapped to participate in the lunar orbit — said "my soul is begging for this, it needs this."

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Rafi Schwartz, The Week US

Rafi Schwartz has worked as a politics writer at The Week since 2022, where he covers elections, Congress and the White House. He was previously a contributing writer with Mic focusing largely on politics, a senior writer with Splinter News, a staff writer for Fusion's news lab, and the managing editor of Heeb Magazine, a Jewish life and culture publication. Rafi's work has appeared in Rolling Stone, GOOD and The Forward, among others.