First Private Company Attempting Moon Landing Loses Contact With Spacecraft Moments Before Touchdown

A Japanese company just attempted to make history by becoming the first private entity to land a spacecraft on the moon, but unfortunately, their attempt was unsuccessful. Tokyo-based company ispace, which develops spacecraft technology and builds landers and rovers, tried to land its unmanned Mission 1 lunar lander on the northeastern sector of the moon. However, as the spacecraft reached its final 30 feet of descent while traveling at 16 mph, the control team lost contact with it. According to the Associated Press, ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada said, “We have to assume that we could not complete the landing on the lunar surface.”

The seven-foot-tall moon lander was carrying a mini lunar rover sent by the United Arab Emirates and also had a robot from Japan intended to roll around in the moon dust. The moon lander also carried other scientific research equipment and payloads from government agencies and companies in the U.S. and Canada. Despite the unsuccessful landing, ispace had completed eight of the 10 milestones for the Mission 1 lunar lander, and they have a $73 million contract with NASA to fly cargo to the moon’s surface in 2025.

Only the U.S., Russia, and China have successfully landed a spacecraft on the moon. An Israeli nonprofit organization attempted a moon landing in 2019, but its craft was destroyed during an attempted landing. The failed landing from ispace comes just days after American rocket company SpaceX attempted to launch the largest rocket ever built, which unfortunately exploded during the stage of separation from its boosters. However, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk remained optimistic, saying that his employees “learned a lot” for the next test launch.

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