The entrepreneur, who sold his online fashion business Zozo Inc to SoftBank in 2019, is paying the entire cost of the voyage on SpaceX’s next-generation reusable launch vehicle, dubbed the Starship.

Two recent prototypes have exploded during testing, underscoring the risks for Maezawa, 45, and his fellow passengers, who must also contend with the strains of space travel in the first private journey beyond Earth’s orbit.

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“This mission we expect people will go further than any human has ever gone from Planet Earth,” Musk said, days after SpaceX completed its latest $US850 million ($1.09 billion) fundraising, which has helped turn the businessman into one of the world’s richest people.

Maezawa is known for his art and supercar collections, and the cash giveaways that have made him Japan’s most-followed Twitter account.