In recent months it became clear that if Maezawa's mission happened, it would not occur until at least the early 2030s—at least a decade after the original plan.
The original target was 2023, so is Berger saying he already had inside information that it wouldn't fly before 2033?
If, yesterday, you'd told me 2027, I'd have believed you!
We might actually find out, because there was a 2nd circumlunar tourist trip planned. If that's still going ahead, maybe it'll just be promoted to the 'slot' that was previously allocated to Dear Moon?
I don't really understand the decision to cancel it. Whether it's in 1 year or 10, I'll drop whatever else I'm doing for a trip around the moon. Maybe Steve Aoki disagrees. This has to be devastating (and maybe a little bit of a relief?) for Tim Dodd.
As a side note, it's actually easier to build a pressure vessel to deal with space than the deep sea. 1 atm is about 15psi, vs 6000 psi at the Titanic.