posted 05-13-2021 08:59 AM               

This thread is intended for comments and questions about the Soyuz MS-20 mission to the International Space Station.

posted 05-13-2021 09:01 AM               

Space Adventures' Client, Yusaku Maezawa, Plans for Mission to the International Space Station

Space Adventures, Inc., the world’s leading space experiences company, announced that Yusaku Maezawa has begun preparations for a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) by successfully passing the required medical examinations. He and his production assistant, Yozo Hirano, are planning to launch on the Russian Soyuz MS-20 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on December 8, 2021.

The duration of the spaceflight will be 12 days and will be commanded by Cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. Mr. Maezawa and his crew will begin approximately three months of spaceflight training in June at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia.

"I’m so curious ‘what’s life like in space'? So, I am planning to find out on my own and share with the world on my YouTube channel," said Yusaku Maezawa.

“We are excited for Maezawa-san, and we are honored to have enabled this opportunity for him to fly to space,” said Eric Anderson, Chairman and CEO of Space Adventures, Inc. “He will be flying on the respected Soyuz spacecraft, visiting the space station as have our previous space flight participant (SFP) clients. This is the first time two SFPs will fly together, and the first tourist mission to the ISS in a decade! Welcome to space, Yusaku!”

Space Adventures has been cooperating with Roscosmos since the world’s first space tourist flight in 2001. In total, seven self-funded individuals have visited the space station and Mr. Maezawa plans to be the eighth and the first from Japan.

About Yusaku Maezawa

Yusaku Maezawa, CEO of Start Today, Ltd., is a Japanese e-commerce entrepreneur and world-renowned art collector. He founded ZOZO, Ltd., a publicly traded online retail clothing business, which he sold to Yahoo! Japan in 2019. Along with the Soyuz MS-20 mission to the ISS, he also plans to participate in a circumlunar mission onboard SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft currently scheduled to launch in 2023.

About Yozo Hirano

Yozo Hirano joined ZOZO, Ltd. after graduating from university where he became the casting director of the photography team. Currently, he is working at SPACETODAY as a film producer. On the ISS, Mr. Hirano will be responsible for documenting Mr. Maezawa’s mission.

About Space Adventures

Space Adventures organized the flights for the world’s first private astronauts (Dennis Tito, Mark Shuttleworth, Greg Olsen, Anousheh Ansari, Charles Simonyi, Richard Garriott and Guy Laliberté) and today offers a variety of spaceflight missions to low-Earth orbit, the International Space Station, and beyond.

posted 09-18-2021 09:08 PM               

[T-82 Days] Completing the training at NASA, we are heading to the final training before the launch in Moscow. On the left of the photo is Yozo Hirano, who is going to ISS together this time, and on the right is Ogiso who is backup crew.

posted 09-23-2021 11:29 AM               

Going on my space journey from Dec. 8 to 20. The International Space Station (ISS) will be my home for the two weeks. I'll be tweeting my diary along with #MZJourneytoSpace.

posted 11-30-2021 12:40 PM               

Space Adventures' Client to Participate in TRISH Research

International research collaboration designed to increase understanding of human adaptation to spaceflight

Space Adventures, Inc. and the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) at Baylor College of Medicine announced today that human health and performance research will be a part of Yusaku Maezawa's spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS) launching Dec. 8 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

The research, designed to increase the understanding of the impact of spaceflight on the human body, will be conducted by Yozo Hirano, a Japanese citizen, who will be accompanying Maezawa on his flight. Important biomedical data will be collected before launch and upon Hirano's return to Earth.

"I am excited to participate in this research as it will help scientists reduce health risks for future space explorers," said Yozo Hirano, spaceflight participant.

"We thank Yozo for his participation in the TRISH research. Private spaceflight participants have an important role in space medicine as they often have a different health profile to professional astronauts. Our work in partnership with space medicine experts is enabling people with mild health conditions to launch to space thereby improving our collective knowledge of how the body reacts to gravitational forces and weightlessness," said Tom Shelley, president of Space Adventures.

About the Mission

Yozo Hirano will be joining Yusaku Maezawa on his journey to the ISS, arranged by Space Adventures and in partnership with Roscosmos. Hirano will be documenting Maezawa's experience during the 12 day-long mission. The Japanese spaceflight participants are scheduled to launch on the Soyuz MS-20 commanded by Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Dec. 8, 2021. Their experience in space will be shared on Maezawa's YouTube channel.

Increasing human health and performance research on commercial spaceflight is the goal of TRISH's EXPAND (Enhancing eXploration Platforms and ANalog Definition) program, which collects pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight health data and stores it in a centralized research database built by TrialX, which customized its existing software for space health research. Working with commercial spaceflight providers and its spaceflight participants and crew affords new opportunities to study the health and performance of space explorers, according to the NASA-funded research institute.

"The importance of having Mr. Hirano's participation in the research for this mission cannot be understated," said Dorit Donoviel, TRISH executive director and professor of space medicine at Baylor. "The work we are doing to study the impact the human body faces in space will help future space explorers safely travel beyond Earth. TRISH is grateful for Mr. Hirano's participation in this research to further human space exploration."

Space Adventures and TRISH aim to broaden access to space biomedical research data. Anonymized data will be made accessible to researchers through an open data repository funded and overseen by TRISH at Baylor College of Medicine. Empowered by NASA's Human Research Program, TRISH is a virtual institute that finds and funds disruptive and innovative science and medical technologies in order to reduce health and performance risks that space explorers face.

About the TRISH-sponsored research

Before launch and after landing, the biomedical research aims include:

• Collection of research-grade ECG activity, movement, sleep, heart rate and rhythm, blood oxygen saturation.

• Performance of a series of tests in the cognition testing battery designed to assess changes in behavioral and cognitive performance. The cognitive test battery is used by astronauts in NASA-funded behavioral health research studies and is administered with the Joggle Research app (Pulsar Informatics Inc.) on an Apple iPad.

• Use of balance and perception tests pre-flight and post-flight to measure sensorimotor adaptation during changes of gravity. These tests are currently performed by U.S. astronauts before and after spaceflight.; and

• Use of PlenOptika's portable auto-refractor QuickSee device pre-flight and post-flight to collect relevant vision data pertaining to sight, yielding a high-value data set for future vision research in space.

posted 12-08-2021 06:02 PM               

Following docking to the International Space Station, Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin and two Japanese private citizens, Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano took part in a welcome ceremony aboard the complex.

posted 12-10-2021 09:17 AM               

Hi from space.

As we were about to dock into the ISS, I saw this amazing view from the window of the Soyuz, right next to my seat. I couldn't help but say 'Wow!' and I straight away took out my iPhone to take this photo.

I mean, isn't it amazing!? This is real!!!