Japanese Billionaire Cancels Lunar Flight, Impact on SpaceX's dearMoon Project

On Friday night, the dearMoon projecta plan to launch a Japanese billionaire and 10 other 'crew members' on a circumlunar flight aboard SpaceX's Starship vehiclewas abruptly canceled. The mission's official account on the social media site X mentioned that 'dearMoon' would be cancelled, apologizing to those who were looking forward to the project. Yusaku Maezawa, the financial backer of the project and its 'crew leader,' explained the decision, citing the uncertainty of Starship's launch timeline as the reason for cancellation. The planned mission was to be Starship's first human spaceflight to launch from Earth, fly around the Moon, and return, but now it will not happen. The origins of the mission date back to September 2018 when Maezawa and Musk announced the plan at SpaceX's rocket factory in Hawthorne, marking a significant commercial contract for the Starship rocket.