BENGALURU: Japanese entrepreneur, billionaire Yusaku Maezawa last weekend announced the ‘dream crew’ for the first all civilian mission to the moon — ‘dear- Moon’ which includes Indian actor Dev Joshi of Baalveer fame among the eight people. This is the first civilian mission to the moon, planned to take place in the last quarter of 2023. The rocket developed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX will make a week-long journey to the moon, orbit it without landing, and return to earth.
In 2018, Maezawa purchased eight seats aboard the rocket, planning to give an opportunity to as many talented individuals from across the world. Dev was one of the eight selected. Dev is barely able to hold his excitement at being shortlisted for the mission.
“It is a landmark project and being a part of this crew makes me feel really thrilled! Also, being the youngest person of the crew and only Indian on the team, it feels like a responsibility. I am glad to embrace it representing my generation and my country,” Dev said in an exclusive chat with this newspaper.
Speaking on the selection process — for which the organisers had received over one million applications from 249 countries and regions — Dev said the process was “a journey initself. We had many interviews, meetings and medical assessments to clear.
Also, I met Mr Maezawa during the final phases and we had some fun conversations.” The actor said he applied for the project, as it really appealed to him. “I have always been excited about space. I was shooting on the sets of Baalveer Returns, when I saw the announcement of this project. Being an artiste, it sounded interesting to me and I instantly related my life to what MZ was looking for in his crew,” he said.