海角大神

Elon Musk announced Monday SpaceX has its first paying customer for a private, weeklong flight around the moon. Yusaku Maezawa, a young Japanese clothing tycoon, put down a 鈥渟ignificant鈥� deposit for a flight scheduled for five years from now.

It鈥檚 been 50 years since Apollo 8 made the same journey. Perhaps more interesting than the story of funding Musk鈥檚 vision of a 鈥渕ulti-planet civilization鈥� or even the emergence of space tourism, is Mr. Maezawa鈥檚 spirit of generosity. He鈥檚 not going alone. He鈥檚 also paying for about a half-dozen musicians, painters, filmmakers, and other artists to go with him on a cosmic art project聽.鈥�

Solo travel can be revealing. But in my experience, travel is far more satisfying when you have someone else with you. : 鈥淚 want to share these experiences and things with as many people as possible.鈥�

Of course, this trip may have more in common with a Six Flags roller coaster than a Caribbean cruise. At thepaused to underline that 鈥渢his is definitely dangerous.鈥�

Aware of the risks, Maezawa鈥檚 starting to gently recruit passengers for this moonshot: 鈥淚f you should hear from me, please say yes and accept my invitation. Please don鈥檛 say no.鈥�

Perhaps you and I should brush up on our watercolors.

Now to our five selected stories, including the pursuit of justice by American sex-abuse victims and by Latin American activists, as well as what horses can teach humans about empathy.聽