The spacecraft's laser range finder, or LRF, experienced an anomaly that prevented Resilience from obtaining valid measurements of its distance from the lunar surface.

Resilience is ispace's second lunar lander and has been on a long, circuitous route to the moon after launch on Jan. 15 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The mission is a follow-up to the failed Hakuto ...

Even before Resilience’s landing attempt, ispace-U.S. incorporated lessons learned from ispace-Japan’s first mission in 2023. ispace-U.S.’s next generation lander, called APEX-1.0 builds ...

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). While you won’t be able to see the lander ...

UPDATE: Jun. 6, 2025, 10:21 a.m. EDT Executives at ispace have called the mission off, stating it was unlikely they would be able to restore contact with the Resilience lander.

Currently, ispace's Resilience moon lander is scheduled to land on Thursday, June 5, at 3:17 p.m. EDT (1917 GMT), though it will be 4:17 a.m. Japan Standard Time on Friday, June 6, at touchdown time.

Ultimately, Resilience’s long trajectory offers Ispace both pros and cons. Getting to the moon in months, weeks or days Resilience is on a path to the moon that’s often referred to as a low ...

Whether Resilience lands safely or not, ispace is forging ahead. Its next mission, set for 2026, will debut a larger lander, Apex 1.0, aimed at expanding Japan's role in the growing lunar economy.

Japanese company ispace's Resilience lander will attempt to touch down on the moon. "The solar-powered lander carried five ...

An ispace engineer in the mission control room clasps his hands awaiting confirmation from the Resilience lander as CEO Takeshi Hakamada looks on in the bottom right inset photo on June 5, 2025.

The Ispace Tenacious rover (top) is seen carried by the Resilience lunar lander at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Tsukuba Space Center in September 2024. - Toru Hanai/Bloomberg/Getty Images ...

Such a gradual approach to the moon does not, however, guarantee landing success. Ispace’s first attempt to put a spacecraft on the lunar surface ended with a crash landing in April 2023 after a 4 ...