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yesterday

Japan’s ispace Resilience Lander Achieves Lunar Orbit Ahead of June Landing Attempt

The spacecraft marks a key milestone with its successful orbit entry, preparing for a historic private-sector Moon landing at Mare Frigoris.

Rendering of the ispace Hakuto-R lander Resilience with a rover named Tenacious. (Courtesy/ispace)
Resilience, the second lunar lander by Japanese company ispace, during prelaunch preparations.
Japan’s RESILIENCE Lander Will Enter Lunar Orbit Today
ispace Resilience lander

Overview

  • The Resilience lunar lander entered lunar orbit on May 7, 2025, following a nine-minute thruster burn, marking the seventh milestone of its mission.
  • Launched on January 15 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, the lander traveled over 1.1 million kilometers using a low-energy trajectory before orbit insertion.
  • The mission aims to achieve a soft landing at Mare Frigoris on June 5, potentially making ispace the first Japanese private company to land on the Moon.
  • Resilience carries the TENACIOUS rover and payloads including scientific experiments, a UNESCO memory disk, and a commemorative Gundam alloy plate.
  • This is ispace's second lunar landing attempt, incorporating lessons learned from its 2023 crash-landing to enhance operational precision.