A moon mission funded by a Japanese billionaire and powered by SpaceX technology will bring a group of artists on its lunar voyage. One of the creative people chosen for that out-of-this-world honor is Tim Dodd, a science creator known on YouTube as the Everyday Astronaut.
Dodd is a fitting choice for the mission known as dearMoon, since his YouTube career was inspired by it. In a video announcing his decision to join the dearMoon crew, Dodd said that he started making videos after SpaceX first announced its lunar initiative in 2017. A year later, he attended the press conference where billionaire Yusaku Maezawa took control of dearMoon and revealed that the mission would utilize SpaceX’s then-upcoming Starship rocket.
After responding to a public call for applications in 2021, Dodd went through interviews and medical checkups as part of the dearMoon screening process. He will use his technical knowledge to help spaceflight enthusiasts understand the engineering that goes into a manned moon mission. “I’ll be here to help make this all as digestible as I can,” Dodd said.
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When dearMoon’s Starship rocket blasts off in 2023, Dodd won’t be the only familiar face on board. Other artists who have been permitted to board include DJ Steve Aoki and Choi Seung Hyun, a South Korean musician known for his membership in the K-pop group Big Bang. “I hope each and every one [of the crew members] will recognize the responsibility that comes with leaving the Earth, traveling to the moon and back,” Maezawa said. “They will gain a lot from this experience and I hope they will use that to contribute to the planet, to humanity.”
If dearMoon is a success, Dodd will become the first creator to visit the Earth’s lone satellite, but he won’t be the first YouTuber in space. Earlier this year, Dude Perfect member Coby Cotton represented the sporty supergroup as he orbited the Earth aboard a Blue Origin rocket.
Compared to that trip, a moon mission is a much bigger undertaking. Dodd understands the risks of his journey. As a frequent attendee of SpaceX tests, he has witnessed crashes and explosions, but he is confident that the corporation’s technology will be able to guide him to the moon. “I have a lot of faith that by the time this mission happens, SpaceX will have iterated and improved the design to be reliable in a way that I don’t think has been possible before,” Dodd said in a video.
