On Tuesday, April 25, the private Japanese lunar lander Hakuto-R, developed by ispace, was set to attempt a historic landing on the moon. If successful, Japan would have become the fourth country to achieve a lunar landing after the United States, Russia, and China. However, just moments before the anticipated touchdown, ispace announced that it had lost contact with the lander, suggesting that Hakuto-R had likely crashed.
Launched in December 2022, the Hakuto-R lander aimed to complete a complex mission comprised of 10 milestones. While telemetry data indicated that mission controllers remained in contact with the lander. . .
