This is no joke: DJ Steve Aoki is going to the moon

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, center, names his crew of creatives heading to the moon.

Internationally renown DJ Steve Aoki is one of  the group of non-astronauts going to the moon.

Japanese multi-billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, 47,  picked a diverse group of civilians to join him and Aoki as his companions for SpaceX's first all-civilian mission to the moon. 

“Since I was a little child I was dreaming of going to the Moon. It’s becoming more and more real every day," says Aoki. "Still hard to believe but very excited and grateful for this amazing once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. To the Moon!”

A year ago, Maezawa put out a call for potential crew members. He would pay for their tickets. He says he got more than a million applications from around the world.

The crew includes: 

• Choi Seung Hyun, better known as T.O.P. from the Korean boy band BIGBANG; 
• Tim Dodd, who's known for creating space-themed content as a photographer and host of YouTube channel Everyday Astronaut; 
• Rhiannon Adam, a photographic artist from Ireland who now works in London and the US, 
• Yemi A.D., a designer, director, choreographer and non-profit org founder from the Czech Republic;
• Brendan Hall, a filmmaker who directed projects for National Geographic;
•  Karim Iliya, a filmmaker who documents whales, birds and other threatened species; 
• Dev D. Joshi, an actor from India, 

Backups are snowboarding Olympic gold medalist Kaitlyn Farrington and Japanese dancer Miyu. 

This will be the second trip to space for Maezawa. He spent 12 days on the International Space Station last year which he videotaped to document life on the ISS.

Maezawa, the founder of Zozotown, a fashion e-tailer, is valued at $3 billion, and ranks among the top 20 richest people in Japan. 

Musk would not reveal the exact cost of the upcoming voyage to the moon, but said it would cost the same as a trip to the ISS, which is $70-million.

The SpaceX/dearMoon 6-day trip to will circle the moon then return immeditely. The space outing is tentatively scheduled to launch sometime next year aboard Elon Musk's private spacefaring company’s Starship rocket. However, Musk's company is notoriously known for its delays. 

Maezawa bought all the spots for this flight in 2018. He wanted a crew of creatives who would hopefully inspire others to the wonders of space travel.

“I’m very thrilled to have these amazing people join me on my journey to the Moon," said Maezawa, "and excited to see what inspiring creations they come up with in space.”

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