Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa closed his project DearMoon, in the framework of which he planned to make the first tourist flight around the moon on the space shuttle of the company SpaceX This was reported by the project's press service.
We are sad to announce that the first private flight around the moon as part of the DearMoon project has been canceled. Thank you to everyone who supported us and we apologize to those who were looking forward to this event.
The DearMoon website states that Maezawa has decided to close the project due to delayed launch dates and lack of ” a clear schedule for the near term”.
I signed the contract in 2018 with the assumption that DearMoon would be launched by the end of 2023. But it is still not clear when this will happen. I can't plan for my future under these conditions and I feel terrible keeping crew members waiting, hence the difficult decision to cancel the project at this stage.
In early 2017, SpaceX announced plans to launch a commercial flight. around the moon A year later, the company chose the first passenger – Yusaku Maezawa, who flew to the ISS in 2021 on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The Japanese bought all the seats in the ship and announced the recruitment of a team for a joint mission.
At the end of 2022, it became known that the Maezawa team included DJ Steve Aoki, blogger Tim Dodd, director Brandon Hall from the United States, as well as South Korean TOP performer, Irish artist Rhiannon Adam, Czech businessman and producer Yemi A. D., Indian Joshi and British photographer Karim Iliya. American snowboarder Caitlin Farrington and Japanese dancer Miya were chosen as alternate crew members.