Japan billionaire Yusaku Maezawa decides to cancel planned trip to Moon

Japanese billionaire entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa has decided to cancel his planned private space trip to orbit the Moon, as the mission’s feasibility became unclear, according to a website on Saturday.

While he had initially tried to realize the circumlunar flight with other crew members, including American DJ Steve Aoki, by the end of last year as part of the “dearMoon” project, the plan “became unfeasible,” a statement on the website showed.

“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 posted on the dearMoon website said.

The statement also said, “Maezawa and the dearMoon crew members will continue to challenge themselves in their respective fields,” but it did not mention whether or when the team would again aim to carry out the mission.

Maezawa, who became the first Japanese civilian to travel to the International Space Station in 2022, and other dearMoon crew members had planned to ride on a spaceship being developed by private U.S. firm SpaceX.