Cheraw Chronicle

Complete News World

The first private flight around the moon was canceled due to Starship delays – Information Technology – News

The DearMoon project is no longer moving forward. This space mission was supposed to be the first private flight into lunar orbit, but Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa halted the project because SpaceX was unable to complete the Starship rocket in time.

The DearMoon mission was initially supposed to take place in 2023, but that turned out to be “not possible.” The team writes In the ad. Due to the lack of certainty regarding the short-term schedule, Yusaku Maezawa decided to halt the project. “We apologize to everyone who supported the project and was looking forward to this project.”

On X writes Maezawa noted that he concluded a contract with SpaceX in 2018 to use the Starship rocket for this mission. The flight was scheduled to take place before the end of 2023. However, the development of this missile was significantly delayed. Currently only three test flights have been carried out. It is still unclear when the first manned flight of the spacecraft could be made. The billionaire says he can’t plan for his future due to this uncertainty, and he also doesn’t want to keep the crew waiting any longer.

The goal was for DearMoon to be the first private flight in which people would go beyond Earth’s orbit and then fly by the Moon. In addition to Maezawa, eight other celebrities will be seated in the rocket, including K-pop star T.O.P. and DJ Steve Aoki.

SpaceX spacecraft
SpaceX’s Starship rocket