Elon Musk unveils first space tourist

Mr Maezawa made headlines last year after paying $110.5m (£85.4m) for a painting by the late artist Jean-Michel Basquiat at an auction in New York.

The art enthusiast said on Monday he would invite six to eight artists from around the world to join him on the trip.

“They will be asked to create something after they return to Earth. These masterpieces will inspire the dreamer within all of us,” he told reporters.

Only 24 humans have visited the Moon – all of them Americans; 12 of them landed on the moon. Nasa’s Apollo 17 in December 1972 marked the last time humans landed on the moon, or went beyond low Earth orbit.

Mr Maezawa will not land on the moon. He will travel on what is called a “free return trajectory”, which will bring his BFR ship back to Earth after it has gone around the far side of the satellite.

It will be the first lunar journey by humans since 1972.