The private lunar lander from Japan ‘Endurance’ is closing in on the moon, expected to touch down in the unexplored far north area of Earth’s satellite in a few hours.
Associated Press reported:
“The moon landing attempt by Tokyo-based company ispace […] is the latest entry in the rapidly expanding commercial lunar rush.
The encore comes two years after the company’s first moonshot ended in a crash landing, giving rise to the name Resilience for its successor lander. Resilience holds a rover with a shovel to gather lunar dirt as well as a Swedish artist’s toy-size red house that will be lowered onto the moon’s dusty surface.”
Watch: Deployment of the ispace RESILIENCE lunar lander from the SpaceX rocket, back in January.
Deployment of the @ispace_inc RESILIENCE lunar lander confirmed pic.twitter.com/ep3N05MkTm
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 15, 2025
Private companies have been trying to send landers to the Moon since 2019.
“Launched in January from Florida on a long, roundabout journey, Resilience entered lunar orbit last month. It shared a SpaceX ride with Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost, which reached the moon faster and became the first private entity to successfully land there in March.”
3 hours to go!
Fun fact.
RESILIENCE is carrying a self-contained food production experiment from Euglena Co.
What if astronauts could grow nutritious food on the Moon? This tiny module could pave the way. From microgreens to Moon meals – the possibilities start here.… pic.twitter.com/iOUwkDdixO
— ispace-U.S. (@ispace_us_inc) June 5, 2025
Space.com reported:
“ISpace’s private Resilience Lander will attempt to touch down on the Mare Frigoris region of the moon’s surface on June 5, at 3:17 p.m. EDT (1817 GMT). […]
Mare Frigoris — Latin for the “Sea of Cold” — formed billions of years ago when lava flooded a colossal network of impact basins left behind by brutal asteroid strikes. These vast reservoirs of lava swiftly cooled to form dark scars on the lunar surface that we see today.
[…] This will be the ispace’s second try at landing a spacecraft on the moon, following the unsuccessful landing attempt of the Japanese company’s Hakuto-R spacecraft in April 2023. The company has also selected three backup landing sites further to the west in Mare Frigoris, should conditions make the primary touch down site untenable.”
Watch LIVE:
Read more from February 2024:
SLIM IS BACK: Upside Down Japanese Moon Lander Recharged Batteries and Resumed Lunar Mission
The post WATCH LIVE: Japanese Private Lander ‘Endurance’ To Touch Down on Lunar Surface, To Study the Unexplored ‘Sea of Cold’ – MOON LANDING EXPECTED AT 3:17PM ET appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.