dearMoon, a private spaceflight to moon funded by Japanese billionaire, delayed

It is a privately funded journey to Lunar orbit, the furthest that any commercial, crewed spaceflight mission has gone to date. Titled "dearMoon" and funded by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, the mission was scheduled to take place in late 2023 and with less than two months to go for 2024, the mission onboard a SpaceX Starship rocket is nowhere near fruition. On Thursday, Maezawa shared that the mission will take a little longer. "We're not sure when the flight will be, but we will give you all an update once we know more," Maezawa said in a social media post, thereby stating what was already certain for those closely following the space sector.

It was in the year 2018that Yusaku Maezawa announced the project which would take eight individuals along with himself on a week-long return trip to the moon's orbit on board a SpaceX Starship and Superheavy rocket. At the closest, they'd hoped to be at least 200 km above the lunar surface. The initiative is aimed at promoting art and global peace, it was said. The crew includes artists from across domains, hailing from South Korea, the USA, the UK, Japan, the Czech Republic, India and Ireland.

The obvious cause for the delay is the development of the SpaceX Starship rocket that is meant to ferry the crew on this daring journey to the moon, that mankind last undertook in the early 1970s. Starship, also referred to as the most powerful rocket in the world, undertook its maiden test flight in April 2023 and exploded as it reached almost 38 km above the Earth's surface. Multiple engines on the rocket had failed, initial reports suggested.

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However, the biggest validation for Elon Musk was the fact that this experimental rocket safely lifted off the launchpad and at least covered 40 per cent of the distance to the imaginary Karman line (100 km above the earth's surface). As a test flight mission, expectations were really low and the valuable flight data from the mission would prove crucial in performing more such testsafter necessary modifications and technological tweaks.

After the maiden flight in April, efforts are underway to ensure a second test flight sometime in late 2023. However, given the various US Government approvals for the same, it is expected to take time. With no reliable rocket in sight for Maezawa's dearMoon mission, there seems to be no clarity on the mission's progress. Even if the second flight of Starship were to be completely successful, SpaceX would have to perform a full-fledged uncrewed mission to Lunar orbit and back to Earthin order to prove their systems. That is what pushes Maezawa's goal further into the future.

Indian television personality Dev Joshi is among the dearMoon crew and had earlier told WION about his optimism and excitement for the mission. "I trust Elon Musk and SpaceX", he had said.

As part of the Artemis missions, NASA is working on sending astronauts to the moon and establishing a long-term presence on Earth's natural satellite. DespiteAmerica's Apollo-era legacy of multiple crewed lunar missions, extensive uncrewed testing is being carried out before the crewed missions commence. When it comes to crewed spaceflight, space agencies and private firms do as much as humanly possible to ensure the crew's safety. Crew safety is always more important than the overall mission.