From making YouTube content at home to winning a ticket for the first paid plight the moon, Tim Dodd is one of the lucky ones to be fulfilling their dreams of flying to space.
As reported first by Interesting Engineering, eight artists have been picked to take part in SpaceX’s dearMoon project, which will be the very first paid flight around the lunar surface.
The Everyday Astronaut
Dodd or also known as the Everyday Astronaut started producing YouTube videos in 2017 about space flight and the advancements that SpaceX has done over the past few years. He also provides lectures on rocket science and has a strong following of 1.2 million people.
In 2015, Dodd bought a spacesuit as a joke. But he has always known deep inside that he dreams of flying to space just like any ordinary space aficionado. Luckily for him, his joke manifested his dreams.
The Everyday Astronaut admits that he is scared of flying the moon and said he never thought in his wildest dreams that he would actually be flying around the moon.
In his announcement video, Dodd notes that SpaceX’s 2017 initiative that it would be providing paid journeys around the moon served as his creative inspiration for making his videos.
A year later, a Japanese businessman named Yusaku Maezawa paid for every seat when SpaceX offered the first commercial voyage to the moon.
The dearMoon project was formally introduced to the public in March 2021. Maezawa hoped that the news would prompt a large number of brilliant talents to submit videos for the eight open spots.
Going up against other talents was not an easy feat for Dodd since one million people submitted videos hoping to punch their tickets to the moon. Nonetheless, he gave it a shot by sending his introduction without any expectations.
But alas, the eight people going to the moon were announced and the Everyday Astronaut YouTuber was one of them.
Dodd hopes to make a video out of the historic trip and post it one day to YouTube and maybe even livestream the whole process.
First Japanese Civilian on the ISS
Maezawa owns the largest online fashion retailer in his country and he is worth around $1.7 billion as of 2022. SpaceX’s CEO Elon Musk first announced in 2018 that Starship will be sending commercial passengers to the moon.
In December 2021, the billionaire became the very first Japanese civilian to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) after staying there on board for 12 days.
The other members of the dearMoon project include T.O.P from K-pop boyband Big Bang, Steve Aoki from the US, Karim Iliya from the UK, Dev D. Joshi from India, Yemi A.D. from the Czech Republic, Rhiannon Adam from Ireland, Brendan Hall from the US, and of course Tim Dodd.
Miyu from Japan and Kaitlyn Farrington from the US will serve as the two backup crew members for the commercial trip.
