The team had originally aimed to make the circumlunar flight, with celebrities on board, by the end of last year but that became “unfeasible”, the mission said in a statement on its website.
“Without clear schedule certainty in the near-term, it is with a heavy heart that Maezawa made the unavoidable decision to cancel the project,” it said. “To all who have supported this project and looked forward to this endeavour, we sincerely appreciate it and apologise for this outcome.”
The statement gave no further details on the cause of the cancellation.
In 2022, Maezawa said DJ and producer Steve Aoki of the United States; Tim Dodd, an American YouTuber; Czech artist Yemi AD; Rhiannon Adam, an Irish photographer; British photographer Karim Iliya; American filmmaker Brendan Hall; and Indian actor Dev Joshi, and K-pop musician TOP of South Korea will join him for the journey around the moon on SpaceX’s Starship rocket.
There were also two backup crew members: snowboarder Kaitlyn Farrington of the US and dancer Miyu of Japan.
In November, Maezawa said the flyby mission would be delayed until this year or later.
According to a mission profile graphic on the dearMoon website, the round trip was expected to last almost six days and circumnavigate the moon without landing.
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Japanese billionaire Maezawa returns to Earth after 12-day space tourism
Japanese billionaire Maezawa returns to Earth after 12-day space tourism
Maezawa, the mega-rich founder of Japan’s largest online fashion mall, flew in 2021 to the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket, paying a reported 10 billion yen (US$63.5 million).
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse