Japanese billionaire cancels starry flight to the moon Space

• Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa will not travel to the moon on a SpaceX rocket, Starship.
• The flight was scheduled to take place in 2023, but delays made the schedule “unfeasible,” a statement said.
• An uncertain release schedule prompted Maezawa to cancel the project.

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

The official website of the project Azizi Moon, Published a statement on saturday. Maezawa, founder of online retailer Zozotown, first announced the project in 2018 and described it as “the world’s first civilian circumnavigation of the Moon aboard SpaceX’s spacecraft, Starship.”

SpaceX and DearMoon have made plans to fly by the end of 2023.

“However, unfortunately, a launch in 2023 has become unfeasible, and without a clear near-term timeline, Maezawa has made the inevitable decision to cancel the project,” the statement read.

Maezawa echoed this statement with X’s post, writing, “I can’t plan for my future in this situation, and I feel bad about making the crew members wait any longer, hence the difficult decision to cancel at this 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. SpaceX representatives did not respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.

Maezawa announced the eight people who would travel on the spacecraft 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 on a Russian Soyuz rocket.

Musk founded SpaceX in 2022 and recently answered questions about the company during the Milken Institute’s annual global conference in May.

When asked if AI could speed up its space exploration efforts, Musk said: “AI is almost never used” in this field.

He added that he was not against incorporating artificial intelligence, but “we did not see a benefit to it.”