DearMoon project

*dearMoon* project
	Artistic rendition of the Starship firing its engines during its lunar flyby
Mission type	Crewed lunar flyby
Operator	SpaceX
Website	dearmoon.earth
Mission duration	6 days (planned)
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Starship
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
Launch site	SpaceX Starbase, Texas
End of mission
Landing date	TBD
Landing site	SpaceX Starbase, Texas
	; dearMoon project insignia

The dearMoon project 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]

^ Cite error: The named reference Sep 2018 presentation was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ SpaceX signs its first passenger to fly aboard the Big Falcon Rocket Moon mission Archived 2018-09-15 at the Wayback Machine. CatchNews. 14 September 2018.
^ ^a ^b Foust, Jeff (6 February 2018). "SpaceX no longer planning crewed missions on Falcon Heavy". Spacenews. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
^ "Meet the dearMoon Crew!". Meet the dearMoon Crew!. Retrieved 2023-09-06.

[Sep_2018_presentation-1] Cite error: The named reference Sep 2018 presentation was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[2] SpaceX signs its first passenger to fly aboard the Big Falcon Rocket Moon mission Archived 2018-09-15 at the Wayback Machine. CatchNews. 14 September 2018.

[Spacenews-3] Foust, Jeff (6 February 2018). "SpaceX no longer planning crewed missions on Falcon Heavy". Spacenews. Retrieved 6 February 2018.

[schedule-4] "Meet the dearMoon Crew!". Meet the dearMoon Crew!. Retrieved 2023-09-06.

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