Japanese Billionaire Space Tourist Yusaku Maezawa Returns To Earth After 12 Days On ISS

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, along with his assistant Yozo Hirano, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin safely returned to Earth on Monday after spending 12 days aboard the ISS.

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, his assistant Yozo Hirano, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin with Expedition 66 crew members on the ISS | Photo: Twitter/@roscosmos

New Delhi: Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa safely returned to Earth today after spending 12 days on board the International Space Station (ISS).

 

At around 0313 GMT (8:43 am IST), Monday, online fashion tycoon Maezawa, his assistant Yozo Hirano, and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin landed in Kazakhstan, reports news agency AFP.

 

In a statement on its website, Roscosmos said that the flight of the "tourist" spacecraft "Soyuz MS-20" has been completed. The Russian space agency did not provide an exact timing for the landing.

 

Soyuz MS-20 is an important mission for Russia because it marked the country's return to space tourism after a decade-long pause. During that period, there was a rise in competition from the US.

Activities Performed In Space

Maezawa, Hirano, and Misurkin spent 12 days in the orbiting laboratory. The videos documenting the Japanese tourists' daily life aboard the space station are uploaded on Maezawa's YouTube channel. 

 

In the videos, Maezawa explained to the people on Earth how to brush teeth, and go to the washroom in space. He also explained how people relieve themselves on the space station, in one of the videos.

 

While demonstrating a handheld funnel used by astronauts to suck their urine away, Maezawa said, "Peeing is very easy."

 

In other videos, he demonstrated how to properly drink tea and sleep in zero gravity.

 

Almost a day after the launch of the Soyuz MS-20 mission on December 8, the trio docked into the ISS, joining the Expedition 66 crew members. 

 

Maezawa intends to take eight people with him to a mission around the Moon in 2023, according to reports. The mission will be operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX.

 

Before Maezawa and his assistant, Japanese journalist Toyohiro Akiyama was the last private Japanese citizen to visit space. He had travelled to the Mir station in 1990. 

 

The year 2021 has been a turning point for private space travel. The return of the Japanese tourists to Earth marks the successful completion of yet another space tourism mission. 

 

In October 2021, a Russian film crew, comprising actress Yulia Peresild, and film director Klim Shipenko, launched to the International Space Station to shoot the first full-length, fictional movie in space.

The mission was commanded by cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov, and was launched aboard the Soyuz MS-19 manned spacecraft to the ISS, from the Baikonur spaceport. Peresild and Shipenko stayed aboard the ISS for 12 days to shoot scenes for a movie which is a joint project by Roscosmos, Channel One, and the Yellow, Black, and White film studio.

Roscosmos has already commissioned two Soyuz rockets for such trips and plans to continue growing its space tourism business.