what is dear moon?
Dear moon is a mission that was set to take 11 people to orbit the moon on SpaceX's Starship. It is fully funded by Yusaku Maezawa, a crazy Japanese billionaire who has previously visited the ISS, and he is taking 10 "communicators" with him. The "communicators" had to post videos justifying why they should be chosen in a public competition to be selected personally by Maezawa. The end result was a group of humanity's finest with everything from Kpop stars
to youtubers
or turbo woke writers
. This is an unironic serious project, Elon Musk has talked about it and there were actual plans.
Here's the full crew:
Yusaku Maezawa
- Commander, crazy billionaire
Steve Aoki
- DJ
Tim Dodd
- YouTuber
Yemi A.D
- Dancer & grifter or something idk
Rhiannon Adam
- queer Irish woke writer & serial tweeter
Karim Iliya
- Unknown photographer
Brendan Hall
- Unknown filmmaker
Dev Joshi
- Bollywood actor
Choi Seung-hyun
- kpoop
Unfortunately for them (but luckily for God and any Aliens that would be forced to see them) the mission has just been cancelled. The original timeline was to launch in late 2023 but realistically there is no way for it to launch before 2028 . The official reason for the cancellation is due to the delays and uncertainty. 2023 was never a realistic target in the first place and delays are common in aerospace projects so chances are it might have more to do with him losing half his net-worth over the last year
Anyways, no matter the reason most of these "communicators" are left in shambles as their spaceflight dream is crushed from one second to the other. Maezawa didn't event bother to let them know before cancelling publicly in a tweet lmao
it's over ![:marseyitneverbegan: :marseyitneverbegan:](https://i.rdrama.net/e/marseyitneverbegan.webp)
Tim Dodd
Tim Dodd, the everyday astronaut, commonly referred to as the everyday estronaut is probably one of the few with a genuine passion for space. He makes generally high quality videos on decently advanced rocketry stuff and is actually pretty cool. During his livestream of the first starship testflight he shouted "I'M GOING TO RIDE THAT THING!" which we now know he never will. Makes me kind of sad to see tbh
Tim then posted this to twitter
And just like that, the dreams of my crew are over.
I have such mixed emotions about dearMoon's cancellation. Of course I'm extremely disappointed, having dreamt about this mission since I first heard about it in 2018 and even more for the last 3 years since the selection process started. I slowly allowed myself to envision a trip to the Moon one little bit by little bit. On the other hand, I have guilt about being upset about a gift that was retracted. A part of me doesn't feel I'm entitled to grieve since I wasn't entitled to this mission in the first place. But the reality is, I'll need to allow myself to grieve this loss as it became a big part of my life, my dreams, and my visions.
Going to space has never been a thing I've actively pursued in general. It's not a goal of Everyday Astronaut. It was simply a cherry on top. Granted, a HUGE cherry, but I'll be just fine without this mission. I'm extremely fortunate to have the life and the career I have and this mission's cancellation changes none of that. In fact, I've gained new friends, had new adventures and learned more about myself in the last three years because of dearMoon. Unfortunately, I can't speak for everyone on the crew who all have different emotions, consequences and realities of this cancellation. For those who this affects the most, my heart goes out to them.
The one thing I have a hard time reconciling is the timeline. 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. 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.
I still firmly believe that, within my lifetime, we will see missions like this happen, and while I will never be the first to do such a mission, it brings me great joy to know the future is bright and exciting. And I'm proud to be able to continue to cheer those on who will do these exciting firsts! I'll still be here to help explain rocket science to anyone who will listen to me babble on about spaceflight.
In 2018 I started looking at the Moon and imagining artists going around it, then as the selection process narrowed, I allowed myself to imagine going around it. But unfortunately now every time I look at the Moon, it's a painful reminder of dreams lost. But I will continue on as I always have, one giddy rocket nerd who's here to witness history, absorb as much knowledge as I can, and break down what I learn for my fellow everyday person.
I love you all, thank you for the ongoing support and encouragement at this time.
Rhiannon Adam (histrionic foid)
This is the most insane, narcissistic & histrionic foid I have ever seen. Every single tweet in her 30 (that's right) long chain is absolutely deranged. It's hard to just pick a few but here are some highlights. Her timeline is also filled to the brim sneeding about this. https://x.com/blackbirdsfly/status/1796883320577376406
As a queer person too, it has taken a lifetime of unlearning to believe that I could be deserving, and in an instant, I have retraced 30 years. This is also deeply ironic considering today is day 1 of pride month.
NOOO NOT DURING PRIDE MONTH
A couple of days ago, I shared an image of Gaza. Or rather a pair of images. The first, in September 2023, and then later in October 2023. Side by side, they showed a bird eye view of Gaza viewed from space. The first, light filled, glowing.
This is just like getting bombed in Gaza
I truly believe that we need artists and writers in space, and that is a mission I will also be channeling my energy into. I believe it's worth fighting for. Heck, I even thought it was worth potentially dying for.
I guess they could be useful as ballast
This is why we need cultural critics to pay attention. Space becomes a dangerous place when a diversity of people and viewpoints are not represented. Diversity is our check and balance.
Less phallic
rockets
And not so much as an offer of a therapy session to get over the shock. There has been no care at all towards the crew which is the most irresponsible and tone deaf approach I've ever witnessed. I'm shocked.
This mission was there to inspire world peace. Ironically, I write this as the world is falling to pieces. We needed our new earth rise image to unite us all. We needed a new perspective.
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Holy giga foid
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