Mission type | Crewed lunar flyby |
---|---|
Operator | SpaceX |
Website | dearmoon |
Mission duration | 6 days (planned) |
Spacecraft properties | |
Spacecraft type | Starship [1] [2] |
Manufacturer | SpaceX |
Crew | |
Crew size | 9 |
Members | Yusaku Maezawa Steve Aoki Choi Seung Hyun Yemi A.D. Rhiannon Adam Tim Dodd Karim Iliya Brendan Hall Dev Joshi |
Start of mission | |
Launch date | TBD |
Rocket | SpaceX Starship [3] |
Launch site | SpaceX Starbase, Texas |
End of mission | |
Landing date | TBD |
Landing site | SpaceX Starbase, Texas |
dearMoon project insignia |
The dearMoonproject is a lunar tourism mission and art project conceived and financed by Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. It will make use of a SpaceX Starship spacecraft on a private spaceflight flying a single circumlunar trajectory around the Moon. The passengers will be Maezawa and eight other civilians, and there may be one or two crew members. The project was unveiled in September 2018 and was scheduled to launch in 2023. [4] It has since been indefinitely delayed until Starship completes development. The project objective is to have eight passengers travel with Maezawa for free around the Moon on a six-day tour. Maezawa said that they expect the experience of space tourism to inspire the accompanying passengers in the creation of something new. If successful, the art would be exhibited some time after returning to Earth with the goal of promoting peace around the world.
Maezawa had previously contracted in 2017 with SpaceX for a lunar flyby in a much smaller Dragon 2 spacecraft launched by a Falcon Heavy launch vehicle, which would have carried only two passengers. According to a SpaceX announcement in early 2018, the Falcon Heavy plan was shelved in light of the development of Starship. [3]
On February 27, 2017, SpaceX announced that they were planning to fly two space tourists on a free-return trajectory around the Moon, now known to be billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, and one friend. [5] This mission, which would have launched in late 2018, was planned to use the Crew Dragon 2 capsule already developed under contract for NASA's Commercial Crew Program and launched via a Falcon Heavy rocket. [6] As well as being a source of income for the company, any mission would serve as technology development for SpaceX's further plans to colonize Mars. [7]
At the time of the 2017 announcement, the Crew Dragon 2 capsule was still under development and the Falcon Heavy had yet to fly. Industry analysts noted that the schedule proposed by SpaceX might be too ambitious, as the capsule was expected to need modifications to handle differences in flight profile between the proposed lunar flight and its main use for crew transfer to space stations orbiting Earth. [8]
In February 2018, SpaceX announced it no longer had plans to certify the Falcon Heavy for human spaceflight and that lunar missions would be flown on Starship (then called BFR ). [3] [9] Then, on September 14, 2018, SpaceX announced that the previously contracted passenger would be launched aboard Starship to flyby the Moon in 2023. [10] [11] Starship will have a pressurized volume of 1,000 m3 (35,000 cu ft), large common areas, central storage, a galley, and a solar storm shelter. [12]
The project was announced in 2018 with the original intent to bring a crew of artists to the Moon. In this latest release, Maezawa calls for applicants to make up a crew of eight individuals from around the world for the week-long lunar trip.
On February 7, 2019, the dearMoon YouTube channel posted a video in which Maezawa discusses the movie First Man with director Damien Chazelle and lead actor Ryan Gosling. In the video, Maezawa officially invites Chazelle to come with him on his dearMoon project, making Chazelle the first person to be publicly invited to go. However, Chazelle answered that he had to think about it and discuss it with his wife. [13] On March 3, 2021, Yusaku Maezawa announced that eight members of the public will be selected to fly on dearMoon. [14] [15] On July 16, 2021, Yuzaku Maezawa uploaded a video that reveals 1 million people have joined, but there was still no information on who won the 8 seats. [16]
On December 8, 2022, the crew of the mission was announced, along with two backup crew members. [17] [18]
Position | Astronaut | |
---|---|---|
Spacecraft commander | Yusaku Maezawa Second spaceflight | |
Pilot | Steve Aoki First spaceflight | |
Youtuber | Tim Dodd First spaceflight | |
Multidisciplinary Creative | Yemi A.D. First spaceflight | |
Photographic Artist | Rhiannon Adam First spaceflight | |
Photographer | Karim Iliya First spaceflight | |
Filmmaker | Brendan Hall First spaceflight | |
Actor | Dev Joshi First spaceflight | |
Singer | Choi Seung-hyun First spaceflight |
Position | Astronaut | |
---|---|---|
Mission Specialist | Kaitlyn Farrington First spaceflight | |
Mission Specialist | Miyu First spaceflight |
The dearMoon project passengers will be Yusaku Maezawa and eight accomplished artists that Maezawa has invited to travel with him for free. [19] [5] Maezawa expects this flight to inspire the artists in their creation of new art, which will be presented some time after their return to Earth. He hopes this project will help promote peace around the world. [1] [20] [5]
Initially proposed to launch in 2023, the circumlunar mission is expected to take 6 days to complete. [1] In 1970, Apollo 13 followed a similar trajectory around the Moon. During the 2020s NASA's Artemis 2 is expected to launch on similar trajectories, while Artemis 1 entered a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon for 6 days. [21] The circumlunar Artemis 2 mission is planned to be crewed and to be launched in September 2025. [22]
Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism.
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In orbital mechanics, a circumlunar trajectory, trans-lunar trajectory or lunar free return is a type of free return trajectory which takes a spacecraft from Earth, around the far side of the Moon, and back to Earth using only gravity once the initial trajectory is set.
Yusaku Maezawa is a Japanese billionaire entrepreneur and art collector. He founded Start Today in 1998 and launched the online fashion retail website Zozotown in 2004, now Japan's largest. Most recently, Maezawa introduced a custom-fit apparel brand ZOZO and at-home measurement system, the ZOZOSUIT, in 2018. As of December 2021, he is estimated by Forbes to have a net worth of $2.0 billion.
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Artemis 2 is a scheduled mission of the NASA-led Artemis program. It will use the second launch of the Space Launch System (SLS) and include the first crewed mission of the Orion spacecraft. The mission is scheduled for no earlier than September 2025. Four astronauts will perform a flyby of the Moon and return to Earth, becoming the first crew to travel beyond low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. Artemis 2 will be the first crewed launch from Launch Complex 39B of the Kennedy Space Center since STS-116 in 2006.
Lunar tourism may be possible in the future if trips to the Moon are made available to a private audience. Some space tourism startup companies are planning to offer tourism on or around the Moon, and estimate this to be possible sometime between 2023 and 2043.
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Artemis 3 is planned to be the first crewed Moon landing mission of the Artemis program and the first crewed flight of the Starship HLS lander. Artemis 3 is planned to be the second crewed Artemis mission and the first American crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 in December 1972. In December 2023, the Government Accountability Office reported that the mission is not likely to occur before 2027; as of January 2024, NASA officially expects Artemis 3 to launch no earlier than September 2026.
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