Oddbean

Japanese billionaire Maezawa cancels moon flyby mission ========== Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has cancelled his "dearMoon" mission, which would have been the first private flight around the moon. The team had originally aimed to make the circumlunar flight with celebrities on board by the end of last year, but that became unfeasible. Maezawa cited uncertainty over the project development and the lack of a clear schedule as the reasons for the cancellation. He signed the contract in 2018 based on the assumption that the launch would come by the end of 2023. Elon Musk's SpaceX named Maezawa its first private passenger in 2018. In 2022, Maezawa announced that K-pop star TOP and DJ Steve Aoki would be among the eight crew members for the mission. The flyby mission was scheduled for this year or later. #YusakuMaezawa #Spacex #Dearmoon #MoonFlybyMission #SpaceTravel https://www.cnbc.com/2024/06/01/japanese-billionaire-maezawa-cancels-moon-flyby-mission.html