Private Japanese lunar lander enters orbit around moon ahead of a June touchdown

A private lunar lander from Japan is now orbiting the moon, with just another month to go before it attempts a touchdown. Tokyo-based ispace announced Wednesday morning its Resilience lander entered lunar orbit. SpaceX launched Resilience with Firefly Aerospace’s lunar lander in January. Firefly got there first in March, becoming the first private outfit to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon without crashing or falling over. Now it’s ispace’s turn. It’s targeting the first week of June for Resilience’s touchdown, along with a mini rover. The company’s first lander crashed into the moon in 2023.

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