Billionaire who booked a SpaceX flight around the Moon cancels after delays

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa had once planned to take eight artists on a flight around the Moon aboard SpaceX’s Starship. But now, with Starship still in development the flight already indefinitely delayed, Maezawa says he has canceled the trip.

“I can’t plan my future in this situation,” Maezawa added.

He also said he feels “terrible making the crew members wait longer.” Others he’d picked for the flight included DJ Steve Aoki, filmmaker Brendan Hall, musician Choi Seung Hyunm, and YouTuber Tim Dodd.

Other possibilities that Ars notes for the project’s cancellation include SpaceX’s focus on its government contracts, as well as Maezawa’s net worth, which is half what it was in 2018 (though it’s still pegged at over $1 billion). The billionaire has also already been to space once, when he rode a Russian Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station, where he stayed for 12 days in 2021.