Yusaku Maezawa sought love in the way only a lonely, 44-year-old fashion billionaire could: asking the women of the internet to apply for a chance to accompany him on a spaceflight around the moon — if they had “bright and positive” personalities and were over 20.

But on Thursday, Mr. Maezawa’s dream, and those, apparently, of more than 27,000 hopefuls, appeared to be in question after he called off a documentary about the weeklong, multimillion-dollar journey.

Mr. Maezawa apologized, saying on Twitter that he had asked for the show’s cancellation “due to personal reasons.”

“Despite my genuine and honest determination toward the show, there was a part of me that still had mixed feelings about my participation,” Mr. Maezawa said. “To think that 27,722 women, with earnest intentions and courage, had used their precious time to apply makes me feel extremely remorseful to conclude and inform everyone with this selfish decision of mine.”