Billionaire abandons ambitious moon trip aboard SpaceX Starship citing prolonged delays
Japanese billionaire Yusaka Maezawa has announced the cancellation of the private SpaceX mission which intended to take him and eight other crew members around the moon aboard a Space Starship rocket, thus bringing the dearMoon project to its sad demise. He cited the persistent delays in the development of the Starship, which did not meet Maezawa's initial expectations.
The billionaire who had previously been to the ISS on a Russian Soyuz rocket back in 2021, announced the 'dearMoon' project all the way back in September 2018, accompanied by a contract with SpaceX for an undisclosed amount. The original flight date was initially set for 2023, and in 2022, he further announced that 8 other people would be joining him on the flight, including DJ Steve Aoki and 7 other celebrities.
Regarding the dearMoon project cancellation.
— Yusaku Maezawa (MZ) (@yousuckMZ) June 1, 2024
I signed the contract in 2018 based on the assumption that dearMoon would launch by the end of 2023.
It’s a developmental project so it is what it is, but it is still uncertain as to when Starship can launch.
Previous reports have suggested that space tourism will play a significant role in funding the rocket's massive development costs, with Elon Musk confirming that the dearMoon contract has a "non-trivial, material impact" as pointed out by TechCrunch. Furthermore, Ars Technica reported that after NASA chose the Starship for the Artemis lander, along with substantial funding of $ 2.9 billion, SpaceX prioritized commitments to conducting tests for the Artemis program as well as Starlink deployments, causing the dearMoon project to become less of a priority.
Most of the other crew members exhibited surprise at the announcement, but photographer Rhiannon Adam, who was among the 8 people set to join Maezawa on the mission, expressed that she was skeptical of the mission's viability for launch in 2023 or even 2024, deeming it improbable. She expressed her thoughts in a recent tweet, which can be found below.
We have been dropped, apparently due to impatience. The dearMoon press release leaves much to be desired. As someone with a critical brain, much of this doesn’t make sense, particularly with regard to timeline. I never believed we were going in 2023, or 2024.
— Rhiannon Adam (@blackbirdsfly) June 1, 2024
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