Fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa, his creator Yozo Hirano, were the first self-paid tourists to visit the space station since 2009.
A Japanese billionaire, its creator and a Russian cosmonaut returned safely to Earth on Monday after spending 12 days aboard the International Space Station.
Fashion tycoon Yusaku Maezawa, his creator Yozo Hirano and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin made a soft landing in a Russian Soyuz capsule 148 kilometres (about 92 mi) southeast of the city at 8:43 a.m. (0313 GMT) in the Steppes of Kazakhstan. Zhazkazgan.
Mr Maezawa (46) and his 36-year-old producer Mr Hirano were the first self-paid tourists to visit the space station since 2009.
Speaking to The Associated Press in a live interview from the orbiting space station last week, Mr Maezawa had said that “once you’re in space, you realize how much it’s worth by having this amazing experience.
sked about reports that claimed he paid more than $80 million for the 12-day mission, Mr Maezawa said he could not disclose the contract amount, but admitted that he Paid “substantial” of that amount.
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In October, Russian actor Yulia Peresild and film director Klim Shipenko spent 12 days aboard the station to make the world’s first film in orbit, a project sponsored by Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos to help ignite the nation’s space glory.
Mr Maezawa made his fortune in retail fashion, launching Japan’s largest online fashion mall, Zozotown. Forbes magazine has estimated his net worth at $1.9 billion.
Remaining aboard the station are NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, Kayla Barron and Mark Vande Hei; Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov; and Matthias Maurer of the European Space Agency.
