Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has blasted off to the International Space Station (ISS) today, where he plans to document his experience for his 750,000 YouTube subscribers. 

The irreverent space enthusiast, who is one of Japan's richest men, launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at about 7:30 GMT (2:30 ET) accompanied by his assistant and film producer Yozo Hirano. 

The pair will spend 12 days aboard the giant orbiting laboratory, where they plan to answer questions such as 'Do you move forward when you fart in space?' and 'What happens when you play Pokémon GO in space?'

Their three-seat Soyuz spacecraft, emblazoned with the Japanese flag and an 'MZ' logo for Maezawa's name, was moved onto the launchpad on Sunday morning. 

'I am almost crying because of my impressions, this is so impressive,' Maezawa said in late November, after arriving at Baikonur for the final days of preparation. 

The spacecraft will be piloted by Alexander Misurkin, a 44-year-old Russian cosmonaut who has already been on two missions to the ISS, ending a decade-long pause in Russia's space tourism programme. 

Maezawa and Hirano have spent the past few months training at Star City, a town outside Moscow that has prepared generations of Soviet and Russian cosmonauts.