Japanese Billionaire Maezawa Cancels "Dear Moon" Private Lunar Journey

The "Dear Moon" mission, touted as the first private journey around the moon, announced today that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has decided to cancel it. The mission stated on its website that the team initially aimed to conduct a lunar flight with several celebrities by the end of last year, but that has become "impossible." It added, "In the absence of a clear timeline and certainty in the near future, Maezawa made the heavy-hearted decision to cancel the project... To all who supported this project and were looking forward to this endeavor, we greatly appreciate it and apologize for this outcome." The statement did not provide further details regarding the reason for the cancellation.