Japanese startup to attempt moon landing

A Japanese startup will attempt a tricky lunar touchdown on Friday with an unmanned lander named Resilience, two years after its first try which crashed onto the moon’s surface.

If successful, it will be only the third private mission to the Earth’s rocky natural satellite ever completed, and the first by a company based outside of the United States.

The startup, ispace, says touchdown is expected at 4:17am Japan time on Friday (1917 GMT on Thursday) with the potentially nail-biting attempt streamed on its website.