Japanese billionaire, Russian actress to fly to ISSby Jeff Foust — May 13, 2021
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa will fly with a production assistant to the International Space Station on a commercial Soyuz mission. Credit: Space AdventuresWASHINGTON — A Japanese billionaire best known for buying a SpaceX Starship flight around the moon will go to space first on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station, two months after a Russian actress and director visit the station.
Space tourism company Space Adventures and the Russian space agency Roscosmos announced May 13 that Yusaku Maezawa will fly to the ISS on the Soyuz MS-20 mission launching Dec. 8 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. He will be accompanied by a production assistant, Yozo Hirano, on the 12-day flight, commanded by Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. (...)
Peresild, an actress who has appeared extensively in Russian television and film, was one of four finalists for the mission. Another actress, Alena Mordovina, will train as the backup for the mission. A third finalist, Galina Kairova, a pilot and amateur actress, was invited by Roscosmos to train to become a professional cosmonaut.
Source:
https://spacenews.com/japanese-billionaire-russian-actress-to-fly-to-iss/