Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa is stationed aboard the International Space Station (ISS) this week. The 46-year-old is the first self-paying tourist to visit the ISS since 2009, and it appears his vacation is worth the money spent. The views he captured from the ISS could make anyone envious. Maezawa captured the Earth in a time-lapse video from the ISS and shared it on Twitter. He wrote, “This is exactly an entire orbit around Earth. Breathtaking.” The video shows the space station’s solar panels adjusting to the Sun’s rays as the Earth rotates on its axis, showing blue oceans and white clouds.
While Maezawa is enjoying the space trip, back home some people are criticising him for paying an exuberant price, which he could have used for better causes. The cost of his space trip is undisclosed.
Maezawa’s time-lapse video, meanwhile, has got more than 4 lakh views.
Maezawa has taken along with him a production assistant to the ISS to document the whole space journey. And he is sharing videos on his YouTube channel and on social media, showing what life is like aboard the space station. Maezawa previously shared a video of how astronauts attend nature’s call in space. Living on the ISS requires intensive training as the space station moves at such a brisk pace in orbit that those aboard experience 16 sunrises and sunsets each day.
Maezawa blasted off to space in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft on December 8 from Kazakhstan and reached the ISS later that day. The billionaire’s space trip has been organised by Virginia-based Space Adventures, the company which sent seven other tourists to ISS from 2001 to 2009.
Yusaku Maezawa is a Japanese business magnate and founder of Zozotown, Japan’s largest online fashion mall.Maezawa derives his fortune from retail fashion. According to a 2021 Forbes list, Maezawa is Japan’s 30th richest person. He has also booked a ticket on Elon Musk’s Starship for a flyby around the Moon.