Yozo Hirano
Yozo Hirano (平野 陽三, Hirano Yozo, born October 12, 1985) is a Japanese spaceflight participant. He flew on Soyuz MS-20.[1]
Yozo Hirano | |
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平野 陽三 | |
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Born | Imabari, Ehime Prefecture, Japan | October 12, 1985
Occupation | Film producer |
Organization | Start Today, Zozotown, ZOZO |
Space career | |
Space Adventures Space tourist | |
Time in space | 11 days, 19 hours, 34 minutes |
Missions | Soyuz MS-20 |
He flew with Yusaku Maezawa, who paid for both seats; his function was that as a production assistant to Maezawa and to document the flight.[2]
Education and professional activities
Yozo Hirano joined ZOZO, Ltd. after graduating from Kyoto Prefectural University with a degree in casting director of a photography group. There he became the casting director and the manager of the photography team. There he is now working at Start today division of ZOZO, run by Maezawa, as a film producer. He works for Maezawa's private projects, including filming for Maezawa's YouTube channel. Thus being with Maezawa all the time he was selected for a mission to the ISS, where Yozo will be responsible for filming Maezawa during their stay.[3]
Space training
On May 13, 2021, Space Adventures announced that Yozo Hirano had passed the medical examination and from June 2021, together with Yusaku Maezawa, he began preparations for a flight on the Soyuz MS-20 crewed transport spacecraft, which launched on December 8, 2021. The duration of the space flight was 12 days; Roskosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin was appointed the Soyuz MS-20 crew commander. During the Soyuz MS-20 mission to the ISS visiting Hirano will be responsible for documenting the flight of Yusaku Maezawa.[4]
On June 15, 2021, the participants of the space flight of the 20th visiting expedition presented to the management and staff of the Center at the Yu.A. Gagarin CTC. Together with Maezawa and Hirano, Shun Ogiso, the Public Relations Manager of the Start Today corporation also participated in the training.
References
- "Japanese billionaire, Russian actress to fly to ISS". SpaceNews. 2021-05-13. Retrieved 2021-07-27.
- Space Adventures’ Client, Yusaku Maezawa, Plans for Mission to the International Space Station
- Levin, Oleg. "MZ Mission Overview". Space Adventures. Retrieved 2021-11-01.
- "Два космических туриста из Японии полетят на МКС на "Союзе МС-20"". Роскосмос. 2021-05-13. Retrieved 2021-05-13.