Japanese Billionaire Cancels Private Spacex Moon Mission, Crew Devastated

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has cancelled his planned flight to the moon aboard SpaceX's Starship. It's an understandable decision considering that Starship has yet to have a completely successful test flight.

[...] "[L]aunch within 2023 became unfeasible, and without clear schedule certainty in the near-term, it is with a heavy heart that Maezawa made the unavoidable decision to cancel the project," read a statement from dearMoon.

[...] Maesawa initially announced his private SpaceX moon flight in 2018, intending to bring along a handful of artists to create works inspired by the trip. He did briefly expand the guest list in Jan. 2020, searching for a "life partner" willing to go on the most intense romantic getaway ever, but quickly abandoned that idea just a few weeks later.

In the end, the billionaire had settled on a crew of eight creatives, including U.S. DJ Steve Aoki, K-pop artist T.O.P aka Choi Seung-hyun, and YouTuber Tim Dodd. Now they'll all have to look for other transport if they want to get any closer to the moon. Maezawa has at least ventured to space before, taking a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station for a 12-day trip in 2021.

"I can't plan my future in this situation, and I feel terrible making the crew members wait longer, hence the difficult decision to cancel at this point in time," Maezawa posted. "I apologize to those who were excited for this project to happen."

dearMoon's cancellation wasn't a completely outlandish possibility. Maezawa provided an update to the project last November, acknowledging that the mission wouldn't go ahead in 2023 and that he wasn't sure when it would happen. However, some of the crew members have publicly expressed disappointment and even criticised Maezawa for his decision to abort the mission.

Read more of this story at SoylentNews.