A lunar lander that launched from KSC in January will attempt to land on the surface of the moon this afternoon.

On January 15, 2025, at 1:11 a.m. EST, Japanese space company ispace launched its RESILIENCE lunar lander aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This mission, known as Hakuto-R Mission 2, marks ispace’s second attempt to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, following the unsuccessful Hakuto-R Mission 1 in April 2023. RESILIENCE is scheduled to attempt its lunar landing later today, at 3:17 p.m. EDT, targeting the Mare Frigoris region near the Moon’s north pole.

Mission Objectives

First of all, a successful soft landing with the spacecraft in its intended orientation on the lunar surface. Many commercial companies have attempted this, with only one – Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost – being fully successful this far.

iSpace’s own Hakuto-R Mission 1 is among the failed landers, as the lander plummeted uncontrollably when its propellant was exhausted. This near-fatal anomaly was due to the spacecraft’s onboard computer wrongly assuming its radar altimeter was faulty. The spacecraft’s computer ignored this data, and as a result misjudged the actual altitude of the spacecraft and kept hovering 5 km above the surface of the Moon.

iSpace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada recently spoke about the RESILIENCE mission, saying yesterday, “I am very proud to announce that once again, on June 6, 2025, JST, ispace will attempt a historic landing on the Moon as part of Mission 2, ‘SMBC x HAKUTO-R VENTURE MOON.’”

“Just over two years ago, on April 26, 2023, ispace, operating HAKUTO-R Mission 1, became the first private company in the world to attempt a lunar landing. While the mission achieved significant results, we lost communication with the lander just before touchdown,” Hakamada said.

“Since that time, we have drawn on the experience, using it as motivation to move forward with resolve. We are now at the dawn of our next attempt to make history,” he concluded.

Today, the company will find out if its remediations and improvements from the first HAKUTO-R mission have been fruitful.

Live Stream

Today’s landing attempt will be streamed live on ispace’s YouTube channel. Tune in about an hour before the scheduled touchdown when coverage is set to begin.

Post-Landing

Once RESILIENCE lands, it will deploy and/or utilize several payloads aimed at advancing lunar exploration:

• TENACIOUS Micro Rover: Developed by ispace’s European subsidiary, this 5-kilogram rover is equipped with a high-definition camera and a shovel to collect lunar soil samples. The rover will conduct in-situ resource utilization demonstrations, including regolith extraction, and relay data back to the lander.
  
• Moonhouse Art Installation: A miniature Swedish-style red house created by artist Mikael Genberg, symbolizing human aspiration and creativity, will be deployed on the lunar surface.
  
• UNESCO Memory Disk: RESILIENCE carries a disk containing 275 human languages and cultural artifacts, aiming to preserve human heritage in the event of a global catastrophe.

Additionally, ispace plans to transfer ownership of collected lunar regolith to NASA, marking the first commercial transaction of lunar resources to date.

About iSpace

Founded in 2010 by Takeshi Hakamada, ispace is a Tokyo-based private space exploration company with a stated vision of expanding human presence into space. The company aims to develop a sustainable lunar economy by providing low-cost, high-frequency transportation services to the Moon. With offices in Japan, Luxembourg, and the United States, ispace employs over 300 people worldwide.

ispace’s long-term goal includes establishing a lunar colony of 1,000 inhabitants by the 2040s, utilizing the Moon’s water resources for fuel production and supporting a space-based economy.