Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa cancels Elon Musk's Starship lunar flight mission dubbed 'DearMoon'

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Yusaku Maezawa, the Japanese billionaire, has decided to abandon his ambitious ‘DearMoon’ mission. The project, which was set to be the first private flight around the moon, has been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.

 

Maezawa, the founder of Japanese online fashion store Zozo Inc, had initially planned this lunar expedition in collaboration with Elon Musk’s SpaceX. The mission was to be Starship’s first human spaceflight, launching from Earth, circumnavigating the Moon, and returning.

 

However, the journey to the moon is no longer on the cards. Maezawa cited the uncertainty over the project’s development as the primary reason for the cancellation. He expressed his regret over making the crew members wait longer and felt it was necessary to cancel the mission at this point.

 

According to Ars Technica, Maezawa had made a 12-day trip to the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz vehicle in 2021. Also, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin had recently resumed space tourism flights, so perhaps the idea of interstellar travel is no longer as novel as when project 'DearMoon' was first announced a few years back.

 

Even Elon Musk himself today boasted that SpaceX Falcon team has successfully 14 times in a single month.

 

 

 

With music superstars Steve Aoki and TOP, a member of Korean boyband BIG Bang, originally planned to be part of the launch crew, the cancellation of the much-anticipated mission has undoubtedly left many disappointed. The project had garnered significant attention since its announcement seven years ago, with Maezawa planning to take a crew of creative individuals on this lunar journey.

 

 

The cancellation of the ‘DearMoon’ mission raises several questions about the future of private space travel. What does this mean for other private space missions? Will this impact the timeline of future SpaceX projects? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

 

 

 

 

Read more:

• https://dearmoon.earth/pdf/dearMoon_EN_240601.pdf?0531
• https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Aerospace-Defense-Industries/Japanese-billionaire-Maezawa-dearMoon-mission-cancels-moon-flyby
• https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/06/heres-why-a-japanese-billionaire-just-canceled-his-lunar-flight-on-starship/
• https://www.space.com/japanese-billionaire-cancels-spacex-starship-moon-dearmoon-flight