Hyperdrive
Japan Spacecraft Believed to Have Crashed on Moon During Landing
- Hakuto-R Mission 1 was scheduled to touch down early Wednesday
- Crash another setback for Japan’s space efforts more broadly
An illustration provided by ispace depicts the Hakuto spacecraft on the surface of the moon.
Source: ispace
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Tokyo-based Ispace Inc. said it lost contact with a lander bound for the moon and that the craft, which didn’t have anyone on board, likely crashed, a big setback for the company’s efforts in space transportation and Japan’s push into the cosmos more broadly.
Ispace’s Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander was scheduled to touch down early Wednesday morning Japan time, in what would have been among the very first commercial space attempts to place a lander on the moon intact. But communication was lost shortly after engineers confirmed the lander was in a vertical position on the final approach.