Japan billionaire Maezawa's moon flyby pushed back to 2024 or beyond

FILE PHOTO: Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, who returned to Earth last month after a 12-day journey into space, attends a news conference after returning to Japan, at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, in Tokyo, Japan January 7, 2022. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa said on Thursday his voyage around the moon with Elon Musk's SpaceX had been delayed to 2024 or later.

"We were planning for our lunar orbital mission 'dearMoon' to take place in 2023, but seems like it will take a little longer," Maezawa said in a message on the social media platform X, without giving reasons.