THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 25, 2023 at 14:55 JST
This illustration provided by ispace in April 2023 depicts the Hakuto spacecraft on the surface of the moon with the Earth in the background. (ispace via AP)
A Japanese company is about to attempt what no other private business has done: land on the moon.
Tokyo’s ispace company put its own spacecraft into orbit around the moon a month ago. On Tuesday, flight controllers will direct the craft, named Hakuto, Japanese for a white rabbit, to descend from 60 miles (100 kilometers) high and land.
The 7-foot lander is carrying a mini lunar rover for the United Arab Emirates and a toylike robot from Japan designed to roll around in the moon dust.
Hakuto took a long, roundabout route to the moon following its December liftoff, beaming back photos of Earth along the way.
Only three governments have successfully landed on the moon: Russia, the United States and China. An Israeli nonprofit tried to land on the moon in 2019, but its spacecraft was destroyed on impact.
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