Japan’s space agency yet to confirm success of lunar landing

Japan’s space agency was racing to confirm whether its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) had reached the lunar surface early Saturday.

If confirmed, Japan would be only the fifth country to land a craft on the moon, after the U.S., Russia, China and India.

Tensions rose at midnight Saturday as Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) began its final descent, dubbed the “20 minutes of terror,” in the closely watched last stage of the spacecraft’s four-month journey to the moon.

At around 12:20 a.m. Japan time, as people watched from around the world, the spacecraft nicknamed the “Moon Sniper” appeared to have touched down, although JAXA has yet to confirm whether it landed on the lunar surface.

A successful mission would give a much-needed boost to Japan’s space program, which has experienced a series of setbacks in recent years including the launch failure of its H3 flagship rocket in March 2023.

An image of Japan’s lunar lander SLIM, which will attempt to make history early Saturday morning as Japan looks to become the fifth nation to land a craft on the moon.
| JAXA / VIA KYODO

A screen shows JAXA officials in the mission control room at the space agency’s campus in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, on Saturday.
| Kyodo

A model of a transformable lunar surface robot known as SORA-Q installed on the the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM).
| JAXA / VIA AFP-JIJI