Baikonur in Kazakhstan (Reuters). Yusaku Makawa, a Japanese billionaire said he was unable to contain his excitement a few days before launching off to the International Space Station. The trip is a preparation for Elon Musk’s SpaceX in 2023. In recent months, the 46-year old fashion mogul and collector trained at a Moscow-based space center before becoming the first tourist to fly to the ISS for more than a decade.

Maezawa will fly aboard a Soyuz satellitecraft. The craft will launch at the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. On Wednesday. Maezawa is accompanied by Yozo Hirano (his assistant) who will record the journey and Russian cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. Maezawa, speaking from Baikonur in advance of the 12-day journey into space, said that flying to space was a childhood dream.

“I’m excited. Maezawa described how she felt like an elementary school student about going on an excursion. “I never thought I’d be able go to space. I liked the stars and the celestial bodies. It is a blessing to be able to live my dream and I am grateful.”

He has posted a series of social media updates chronicling his preparations. This includes riding on a centrifuge and showing off his space suit.

Maezawa claimed that during his 100-days of training, he experienced parabolic flights, in which weightlessness is inducible for brief periods, while he found training in the spinning chair difficult.

He was dressed in a blue flightsuit with the badge “World Peace” and said that he struggled with Russian communication with his trainers.

Maezawa will take the SpaceX Moon trip as the first private passenger. Blue Origin, a commercial firm led by Jeff Bezos, is helping to usher in an era of high-end space travel. He is looking for eight individuals to accompany him to his lunar voyage in 2023.

Maezawa, a Japanese household name, has become well-known for his passion for supercars and private planes.

Maezawa will become the Japanese space private citizen for the first time since Toyohiro Aikiyama, a TV journalist, visited Mir Space Station in 1990.