Irish Examiner view: Bon voyage to a Cork woman heading into space

Rhiannon Adam is one of just nine artists and creatives selected to take a journey into space including a circuit around the moon

Rhiannon Adam, 37, a Cork woman now based in Hackney, north London, is one of the nine people from among more than a million applicants selected to fly around the moon. Picture: Rhiannon Adam/PA

It wouldn’t be a voyage without someone from Cork on board and, while the passenger may not be Barney McGee from the banks of the Lee, the city will have at least one representative on the planned inaugural civilian trip around the moon.

Photographic artist Rhiannon Adam, 37 and born in Cork, has been named as one of nine astronauts of the dearMoon project which will carry private citizens beyond low-Earth orbit. 

She was selected from hundreds of thousands of applicants from 249 countries to join Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa on his mission aboard a SpaceX craft, which will fly around the dark side before returning to earth. 

Maezawa expects the experience of space tourism to energise his passengers in the creation of their art, with works inspired by the trip to be exhibited after the crew return home.

High flight: Rhiannon Adam is set to become one of the few people to 'slip the surly bonds of earth'. Picture: Project Moon

Ms Adam, who now lives in Hackney, London, was prompted to apply to tackle the final frontier because of her experience of being “grounded” during the Covid pandemic. 

The starship in which she and her companions will travel is currently being built by a company founded and owned by billionaire Elon Musk. SpaceX has not yet announced when the 50-metre craft, expected to be propelled into space by a 69-metre rocket booster, will be completed.

Good luck to the intrepid Ms Adam in her endeavour, described memorably in the sonnet of the poet John Gillespie Magee Jr, to “slip the surly bonds of earth”. 

We look forward to the work which her expedition will deliver.