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 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.
In this photo provided by ispace in April 2023, a technician works on the Hakuto spacecraft in Japan. On Tuesday, April 25, 2023, flight controllers plan to direct the craft to descend from orbit and land on the moon's surface.ispace via AP
