Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa announced on Saturday that he had canceled his scheduled trip around the moon aboard the huge Starship rocket built by SpaceX, due to delays in its development.
“Starship”, the most powerful rocket in the world, designated for trips to the moon and Mars, is scheduled to conduct a fourth test flight next Wednesday, according to what SpaceX, a company affiliated with billionaire Elon Musk, announced last May.
The first three experiments ended with the vehicle crashing.
In 2018, Maezawa announced this mission called “dearMoon” (“dearmoon” meaning “dear moon”) on board the spacecraft.
He said last November that the mission, which was scheduled to fly at the end of 2023, had been postponed to an unspecified date due to “continuous developments” of the Starship vehicle.
Today, Saturday, on the “X” platform, Maezawa announced the cancellation of this mission.
He explained, “At this stage, there is no clear perspective on when we will be able to launch,” adding, “I cannot make plans for my private life. I am sorry to keep the other crew members I invited waiting. Therefore, I decided to cancel after careful consideration.”
He continued, saying, “I apologize to those who were waiting” for this project.
A statement, published on the Dermon mission website, explained that there was no clear timeline available after the mission originally planned for 2023 was postponed. Therefore, “with a heavy heart, Maezawa made the inevitable decision to cancel the project.”
He added, “To everyone who supported this project and waited for its completion, we greatly appreciate that and apologize.”
Maezawa had purchased all the seats on board the rocket and selected a group of artists to accompany him in 2021.
While about a million people responded to the Japanese businessman’s invitation to participate in the mission, he announced in December 2022 the identity of the eight people who would accompany him: American DJ and producer Steve Aoki, YouTube blogger Tim Dowd, artist Yemi A.D., photographers Rhiannon Adam and Karim Elia, and director Brendan. Hall, actor Dev Joshi and K-pop musician T.O.P.
He also chose two replacement crew members: American ice skater Caitlin Farrington and Japanese artist Mio.
The trip was scheduled to last about six days, without landing on the moon, according to the “Dermon” website.
Yusaku Maezawa, the wealthy founder of the largest online clothing site in Japan, traveled to the International Space Station in 2021 aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket, for 10 billion yen (73 million US dollars at the current exchange rate), according to media reports.
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