Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has cancelled the "dearMoon" mission, which was said to have been the world's first private flight around the moon.

The crew onboard this mission would have been DJ Steve Aoki and former K-pop boy group BigBang member T.O.P, amongst other artistes and creators.

The announcement was made on the mission's website on Jun. 1.

Maezawa originally aimed to make the circumlunar flight with celebrities on board by the end of 2023 but that became "unfeasible".

"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 said.

In a separate post on X, Maezawa said that he had signed a contract in 2018 based on the assumption that the project would launch by the end of 2023.

Regarding the dearMoon project cancellation.

I signed the contract in 2018 based on the assumption that dearMoon would launch by the end of 2023.

It’s a developmental project so it is what it is, but it is still uncertain as to when Starship can launch.

— Yusaku Maezawa (MZ) (@yousuckMZ) June 1, 2024

Background

In 2018, Maezawa was picked by Elon Musk's SpaceX as its first private passenger.

Maezawa, the founder of Japanese online fashion store Zozo Inc, was the first private passenger to visit the International Space Station in 2021.

Top photo via Yusaku Maezawa's Instagram