前沢さん、月旅行計画を中止　見通し立たず「苦渋の決断」

　実業家の前沢友作さん（４８）は１日、民間人初となる月周回旅行計画を中止することを、自身のＸ（旧ツイッター）で明らかにした。宇宙船を打ち上げる見通しが不明瞭なため、「苦渋の決断」として中止を決めたという。
　計画では、前沢さんや各国のアーティストが、米宇宙企業スペースＸの宇宙船に搭乗し、月を周回して約１週間で地球に戻る予定だった。２０１８年の契約時は大型宇宙船「スターシップ」を２３年末までに打ち上げる予定だったが、開発が難航していた。
　前沢さんは投稿で「僕自身の人生計画が立てられないし、誘ったクルーをこれ以上お待たせし続けるのも申し訳ない」とつづった。（2024/06/01-17:52）

Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa said Saturday that he has made a "painful decision" to cancel his plan to become the first non-astronaut individual to orbit the moon.
   The cancellation is due to unclear prospects of spacecraft launch, the 48-year-old entrepreneur explained on X, formerly Twitter.
   Maezawa, together with artists from various countries, was slated to travel around the moon on a large spacecraft of Space Exploration Technologies Corp., or Space X, and return to Earth in about a week.
   He signed a contract for the trip in 2018, when the vehicle, called Starship, was scheduled to be launched by the end of 2023. However, the development of the spacecraft has seen difficulties.
   "I cannot make my life plan (under the current circumstances), and I also feel sorry to keep other crews I invited waiting any longer," Maezawa wrote.