Asian Tech Press (Nov 22) -- On Friday, billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, founder of Japan's largest clothing retail company Zozotown, arrived at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for pre-launch training.

Yusaku Maezawa will enter the International Space Station aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft on Dec. 8 this year for a 12-day trip into space. While there, he plans to record his journey through his YouTube channel.

Yusaku Maezawa, who will be joined on the ISS by producer Yozo Hirano and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin, will be the first Japanese visitor to the ISS once he arrives.

In addition to this trip to space, Yusaku Maezawa has also booked Elon Musk's SpaceX interstellar spacecraft for a tentative flight around the moon in 2023. At that time, there will be eight crew members to fly with him to the moon in SpaceX's starship.