A Japanese billionaire canceled his trip to the moon on a SpaceX rocket after too many delays

Lauren Edmonds
·2-min read

  • Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa will no longer fly to the moon aboard SpaceX's rocket, Starship.

  • A statement said the voyage was scheduled for 2023, but delays made the timeline "unfeasible."

  • The uncertain launch schedule prompted Maezawa to scrap the project.

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has canceled his star-studded trip to the moon aboard a rocket designed by Elon Musk's company, SpaceX.

The project's official website, dearMoon, published a statement on Saturday. Maezawa, the founder of online retailer Zozotown, first announced the project in 2018 and described it as "the world's first civilian circumlunar voyage aboard SpaceX's space vehicle, Starship."

SpaceX and dearMoon made plans to take flight by the end of 2023.

"Unfortunately, however, launch 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," the statement read.

Yusaku Maezawa in January 2022.
Yusaku Maezawa.YOSHIKAZU TSUNO/Getty Images

Maezawa echoed the statement with an X post, writing, "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."

"I apologize to those who were excited for this project to happen," he added.

A dearMoon representative confirmed the cancellation in a statement to Business Insider. Representatives for SpaceX did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

Maezawa announced the eight people who would fly aboard the space vehicle in a YouTube video in December 2022. The guest list included American DJ Steve Aoki, K-Pop star T.O.P., and Indian actor Dev Joshi.

The billionaire previously traveled to space in December 2021 during a 12-day trip to the International Space Station. He spent an estimated $80 million to ride aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket.

Musk founded SpaceX in 2022 and recently answered questions about the company during the annual Milken Institute Global Conference in May.

When asked if artificial intelligence could speed up his space exploration efforts, Musk said that "almost no AI is used" in that field.

He added that he's not against integrating AI, but "we haven't seen a use for it."

Read the original article on Business Insider

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest stories

  • China Finds Something Strange in Sample Retrieved From Moon

    Lunar Graphene Chinese scientists have made an unusual discovery while analyzing the sample Chang'e-5 collected from the Moon's surface in December 2020. They found naturally occurring "few-layer graphene" for the first time, as state-run news agency Global Times reports, which could have major implications for our plans to make use of local resources once on […]

  • China calls on scientists of all nations to study lunar samples, but notes obstacle with the US

    China's space officials said Thursday they welcomed scientists from around the world to apply to study the lunar rock samples that the Chang'e 6 probe brought back to Earth in a historic mission, but noted there were limits to that cooperation, specifically with the United States. Officials said at a televised news conference in Beijing meant to introduce the mission's achievements that any cooperation with the U.S. would be hinged on removing an American law that bans direct bilateral cooperation with NASA. "The source of the obstacle in US-China aerospace cooperation is still in the Wolf Amendment,” said Bian Zhigang, vice chair of the China National Space Administration.

  • A weird sea creature was anatomically unlike anything ever seen — flipping it around led to a revelation

    Researchers have long puzzled over the peculiar innards of an ancient sea creature. A new study says scientists were looking at the Pikaia fossil the wrong way.

  • Surprising asteroid sample reveals Bennu may have originated from an ocean world

    A sample from asteroid Bennu contains organic compounds usually found at midocean ridges on Earth, suggesting Bennu may have been part of an ancient ocean world.

  • Musk's SpaceX hired to destroy ISS space station

    The California-based company will build a "tugboat" to execute the end-of-life disposal of the ISS.

  • ‘Remarkably preserved’ 500-million-year-old sea creature discovered

    New findings have allowed scientists to document features in the extinct animal never seen before.

  • Beat them or eat them: What should we do about invasive species in the ocean?

    Should we beat them, or eat them? In this episode of Ocean Calls, we’re embarking on a journey to unravel the mysteries of invasive species in EU waters. They unsettle the delicate balance of marine ecosystems, so what can we do about them?

  • Astronauts stuck aboard ISS as Starliner issues delay return

    STORY: Problems with Boeing’s Starliner capsule have upended the original plans for the return of two astronauts to Earth, leaving them aboard the International Space Station as teams look at last-minute fixes. :: June 5, 2024Since its liftoff on June 5 the capsule has had five helium leaks, five maneuvering thrusters go dead and a propellant valve fail to close completely.The current problems center on Starliner’s expendable propulsion system, which is needed to back away from the ISS and position it to dive through Earth’s atmosphere. Starliner can stay docked at the ISS for up to 45 days, according to comments by NASA’s commercial crew manager Steve Stich. He said recent test-firings of the thrusters gave mission teams confidence in a safe return, though tests and reviews are ongoing. A source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said internally, NASA’s latest targeted return date is July 6. That would mean the mission, originally planned for eight days, would instead last a month. Even with the propulsion issues NASA has said Starliner would still be capable of returning the astronauts to Earth if absolutely necessary – that is, if the capsule must serve as an escape pod.If Starliner is deemed incapable of safely returning Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Sunita "Suni" Williams, one option would be sending them home aboard SpaceX's Crew Dragon.NASA and Boeing officials, as well as engineers familiar with the program, told Reuters nothing about Starliner’s current problems indicates that this would be needed.This is Starliner's first mission to orbit carrying astronauts - the final test needed before NASA can certify it as the U.S. space agency's second ride to the ISS.

  • Astronauts Sheltered in Escape Vehicles as Debris Menaced Space Station

    Shelter in Place Astronauts on board the International Space Station were forced to shelter inside their respective spacecraft after reports indicated pieces of a broken-up satellite were headed their way. The remains of the derelict spacecraft called Resurs-P 1, a Russian commercial Earth observation satellite that launched in June 2013, were spotted by space junk […]

  • Last woolly mammoths were inbred, but that’s not why they became extinct

    The last woolly mammoths were inbred, scientists have discovered, but this is not the reason they became extinct.

  • NASA Astronauts Again Postpone Return To Earth After Boeing Spacecraft Issues

    There's now no return date set for Boeing's Starliner transportation vessel, after it experienced issues with its thrusters and helium systems.

  • Decades after the famed Kyrenia shipwreck’s discovery, researchers have a new estimate of when it sank

    The timeline of a Hellenistic Kyrenia shipwreck stumped researchers for decades. But thanks to a cache of ancient almonds, a new study may have a better estimate.

  • WATCH: NASA enhances weather observation with GOES-U satellite launch

    NASA launched the GOES-U weather satellite on a Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center.View on euronews

  • Space junk cleanup: One company is creating a space 'tow truck'

    There are more than planets and stars in space. There's also a lot of junk, more than 9,000 metric tons worth as of 2022, according to NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office. It includes things like satellites that are no longer in use and debris that is intentionally discharged during space missions. As space exploration grows, so does the amount of debris, which could eventually pose a risk to Earth.  ClearSpace wants to fix that problem. The company's founder and CEO Luc Piguet tells Asking for a Trend's Josh Lipton the company is developing a "robotic capture system" that basically functions as a tow truck to remove large pieces of space debris from orbit.  Piguet explains that even though newer satellites are designed to fall back to Earth safely, there are ways ClearSpace can help extend the satellite's lifecycle. He notes that it takes a lot of propellant to de-orbit a satellite safely. Instead of using that propellant on de-orbiting, he says, that propellant can be used to extend the life of the satellite and then ClearSpace's services can be used to help it de-orbit safely.  Catch up on Yahoo Finance's special coverage as part of this week's Space Race: Investing in the Final Frontier series. For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Asking for a Trend. This post was written by Stephanie Mikulich.

  • Large asteroid to pass between Earth and the moon on Saturday

    Earth is surrounded by rocky bodies and bits of debris from when the solar system formed roughly 4.5 billion years ago. On Saturday, one of those leftover rocks will whiz past Earth.The asteroid is called 2024 MK and, at its closest, it will pass roughly 290,000 km from Earth. While we have plenty of small asteroids that are scattered within Earth's orbit, this one is sizeable, ranging anywhere from 120 metres to 260 metres in diameter. But there's another interesting — and somewhat disquieting

  • ‘Panic mode’ Democrats begin calling for Biden to step aside after ‘horrible’ debate performance against Trump

    ‘Need to have Harris take over. Cleanest option,’ one Democrat strategist told The Independent

  • Boy, 14, was held down and hacked to death at Wyoming mall while he tried to protect his girlfriend

    Dominique Antonio Richard Harris and Jarreth Plunkett, both 15, are accused of murdering 14-year-old Bobby Maher during fatal attack

  • Woman Devastated After She Sends Text to Father Who Died Months Earlier — and Gets Response: 'My Heart Dropped' (Exclusive)

    "My heart dropped when my message turned blue and delivered," Nilufar Nizam writes on TikTok

  • As ice melts, Everest's 'death zone' gives up its ghosts

    On Everest's sacred slopes, climate change is thinning snow and ice, increasingly exposing the bodies of hundreds of mountaineers who died chasing their dream to summit the world's highest mountain.Sherpa said that bringing one body down from close to Lhotse's 8,516 metre peak -- the world's fourth-highest mountain -- had been among the hardest challenges so far.

  • Three bodies found inside crater at summit of Mount Fuji

    Three bodies were found at the summit of Mount Fuji, Japan’s most famous mountain. One of the bodies had been brought down from the slopes but efforts to bring back the two other bodies were set to continue Friday or later, according to officials after a search was called off for Thursday because of forecasts for heavy rainfall.