Elon Musk revealed the identity of the person to hitch a ride around the moon with his rocket company: Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa.

Maezawa will fly on Space Exploration Technologies Corp’s BFR rocket on a trip around the moon in 2023, Musk announced Monday. SpaceX expects Maezawa, 42, to be the first private passenger to make the journey that only two dozen astronauts have been on during the Apollo era that ended 46 years ago.

“He is, I think, the bravest person and most willing to do so,” Musk said, referring to Maezawa. Calling it a “dangerous mission” and “not a walk in the park,” he said SpaceX will complete several test flights before putting humans on the rocket.

Musk, a master showman, is adept at inspiring a massive audience of followers for his pursuit of electric cars and other clean-energy endeavours critical to combating global warming. Sixteen successful missions for SpaceX this year is a bright spot in an otherwise tumultuous few months for Musk, who is also chairman and chief executive officer of electric-car maker Tesla Inc.

With SpaceX, Musk has described his mission as nothing short of making humans a multi-planetary species. He wouldn’t disclose the price Maezawa is paying for the ride.

Maezawa, 42, whose net worth is US$2.3 billion, is the founder and CEO of Japan’s largest e-commerce company Start Today Co. The company has grown from its origins as a mail-order music album business, and now makes most of its money through its shopping website Zozotown, which is popular with younger domestic consumers.

Shares of his company Start Today fell as much as 4.7% after the announcement, before narrowing its slide to 0.6% in Tokyo.