Nigerian shortlisted for moon trip on SpaceX rocket project

Thursday, September 2, 2021 2:45 pm

Yemi Akinyemi-Dele: among the list of the first 20 shortlisted applicants for a trip around the moon.

By Taiye Agbaje

A Nigerian creative artist, Yemi Akinyemi-Dele, has made the list of the first 20 shortlisted applicants for a trip around the moon.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Japanese billionaire, Yusaku Maezawa, had announced on March 2 that he would choose eight members of the public to join him on the trip.

Maezawa’s mission, tagged “Dear Moon,” is scheduled to fly on SpaceX’s Starship rocket in 2023.

The dear moon project is a mission organised by Elon Musk’s SpaceX and funded by the billionaire and founder of E-Shop in Zozo town with a passionate love for creative artists.

The space mission project, which was open for creative art participants, attracted over one million applications across 249 countries around the world out of which only 20 were shortlisted and Yemi made the list to the final.

The 20 shortlisted names would further be scrutinised with only eight selected for the mission to moon.

With this development, Akinyemi-Dele, whose father hails from Lagos State and his mother from Czech Republic, would need the support and prayers of all Nigerians for him to be among the eight that would be selected for the Starship rocket mission with Maezawa in 2023.

NAN reports that the SpaceX Moon Project is the first in the series and it is expected that if Akinyemi-Dele is selected, he will create history by representing Nigeria and Czech Republic at the mission project.