from the One-of-the-days,-Alice;-to-the-moon! dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has cancelled his planned flight to the moon aboard SpaceX's Starship. It's an understandable decision considering that Starship has yet to have a completely successful test flight.
[...] "[L]aunch within 2023 became unfeasible, and without clear schedule certainty in the near-term, it is with a heavy heart that Maezawa made the unavoidable decision to cancel the project," read a statement from dearMoon.
[...] Maesawa initially announced his private SpaceX moon flight in 2018, intending to bring along a handful of artists to create works inspired by the trip. He did briefly expand the guest list in Jan. 2020, searching for a "life partner" willing to go on the most intense romantic getaway ever, but quickly abandoned that idea just a few weeks later.
In the end, the billionaire had settled on a crew of eight creatives, including U.S. DJ Steve Aoki, K-pop artist T.O.P aka Choi Seung-hyun, and YouTuber Tim Dodd. Now they'll all have to look for other transport if they want to get any closer to the moon. Maezawa has at least ventured to space before, taking a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station for a 12-day trip in 2021.
"I can’t plan my future in this situation, and I feel terrible making the crew members wait longer, hence the difficult decision to cancel at this point in time," Maezawa posted. "I apologize to those who were excited for this project to happen."
dearMoon's cancellation wasn't a completely outlandish possibility. Maezawa provided an update to the project last November, acknowledging that the mission wouldn't go ahead in 2023 and that he wasn't sure when it would happen. However, some of the crew members have publicly expressed disappointment and even criticised Maezawa for his decision to abort the mission.
"You didn’t ask us if we minded waiting or give us an option or discuss that you were thinking of cancelling until you’d already made the decision," photographer and crew member Rhiannon Adam responded to Maezawa on X. "I can only speak for myself but I’d have waited till it was ready."
"Our crew, from the many conversations we’ve had together, were ready to wait as long as it took for this flight to happen," filmmaker Brendan Hall concurred in a lengthy statement, emphasising that the cancellation was Maezawa's decision alone. "Through these years, our crew has stayed well informed of Starship's development through publicly available information and discourse, and were well aware that we would potentially be investing many years into this mission. The cancellation of this mission was sudden, brief, and unexpected."
"Had I known this could have ended within a year and a half of it being publicly announced, I would’ve never agreed to it," wrote Dodd in an X post. "We had no prior knowledge of this possibility. I voiced my opinions, even before the announcement, that it was improbable for dearMoon to happen in the next few years."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by PiMuNu on Thursday June 06 2024, @11:33AM (5 children)
I don't think these freeloaders have any grounds to whinge - it's not like they made much investment.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by JoeMerchant on Thursday June 06 2024, @01:31PM
Some delays and risks are to be expected, but life is short and waiting indefinitely is a fool's response.
Now the crew can get on with their lives and maybe find inspiration in things that really happen...
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2, Troll) by SomeRandomGeek on Thursday June 06 2024, @11:50PM (3 children)
So, if I understand you correctly, you are saying that employers have a right to complain, because their money pays the bills. But employees never have a right to complain about anything. They should just be grateful to be getting a paycheck. Or, if they are no longer getting a paycheck, they should be grateful that they once did. Because paychecks have value and they are the only thing that does.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday June 07 2024, @12:23AM (2 children)
How is this situation an employer/employee relationship?
(Score: 2) by SomeRandomGeek on Friday June 07 2024, @12:32AM (1 child)
I don't know whether these people were getting paid or not. If they were not getting paid, do you think that somehow makes them less entitled to complain? My point was that these people have contributed to the project. Maybe their contributions were less than those of the guy paying the bills, but they still put their lives on hold to be a part of this. They had skin in the game, even if they didn't put up any cash.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Friday June 07 2024, @08:09AM
I think in this situation the reward of doing the project (space) clearly outweighs the cost (attending a few meetings). In some sense it is the inverse of an employer/employee relationship.
The possible financial cost to the benefactor (10s M$) clearly outweighs the cost to the participants (peanuts).
I don't think they have any grounds to whinge.
(Score: 1, Troll) by DadaDoofy on Thursday June 06 2024, @01:09PM
They hopped.
Instead, he signed up for a flight on Artemis. Oh, wait.