In March 2021, Yusaku Maezawa, the space-obsessed Japanese billionaire behind e-commerce site Zozotown, launched a contest to select eight civilian crew members to participate in a private space flight. Announced.A weeklong mission called Diamoonwill fly around the Moon and is scheduled to return to SpaceX’s Starship in 2023.
One person who paid particular attention to Maezawa’s mission was Tim Dodd, a professional photographer turned space YouTuber from Iowa. Dodd, also known as Everyday Astronaut, has a YouTube channel with 1.37 million subscribers covering public and private rocket launches taking place around the world.
“I decided, yeah why?submit the applicationsaid Dodd. He made a video explaining why he wanted to join dearMoon, but he didn’t expect to make it to the top eight. “I never considered the possibility of going,” he said. “It really felt like an opportunity too good to pass up.”
Despite the odds — more than a million people applied for the lunar mission, according to Maezawa — Dodd earlier this month joined musician Steve Aoki, K-pop artist TOP, Indian actor Dev Joshi, Announced as one of four other crew members. They will accompany Maezawa, who flew to the International Space Station aboard the Soyuz spacecraft last year. The crew has passed a full medical examination and battery of tests, but they still have to undergo months of rigorous training.
Earlier this year, Coby Cotton of YouTube channel Dude Perfect entered the suborbital space While on the Blue Origin mission, Dodd will be the first full-time YouTuber to travel to space. “By going to the moon, we have the chance to push those boundaries a little bit more,” Dodd said. (The mission does not actually land on the moon.)
“It’s insane to think about going 240,000 miles from home,” he said. “How do you really prepare physically and mentally for that? I think the emotions will be very high to go through the stages and know that you are safe on earth and going home.Don’t think you can function.
To advance to the Top 8, Dodd underwent multiple Zoom interviews on the dearMoon project. Among the questions Dodd and others were asked was what they could bring to the mission. Jokes aside, Dodd boasted not only of his expertise in space, but also his photography and videography skills. “I can communicate,” he said. “I can help explain to the crew what’s going on.”
