dearMoon - SpaceX - Starship This Vǫxtr style artwork was inspired by SpaceX Starship and the dearMoon project.

The artwork by Prateek Mathur

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ABOUT: dearMoon project.

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 on a private spaceflight flying a single circumlunar trajectory around the Moon. The passengers will be Maezawa, 8 civilians, and one or two crew members. The project was unveiled in September 2018 and the flight is expected to occur no earlier than 2023.

The project objective is to have six to eight normal people travel with Maezawa for free around the Moon on a six-day tour. Maezawa expects the experience of space tourism will inspire the accompanying passengers in the creation of something new. The art would be exhibited some time after returning to Earth to help promote peace across 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.

As of 2021, Starship is in development. The crewed flight will not take place until after Starship is thoroughly tested and after an uncrewed circumlunar test flight.