Ispace said that it could not establish communication with the unmanned Hakuto-R lunar lander after its expected landing time, a frustrating end to a mission that began with a launch from the United States over four months ago.
A Japanese company is about to attempt what no other private business has done: land on the moon. Tokyo's ispace company put its own spacecraft into orbit around the moon.
The Japanese company aimed to be the first to change the paradigm for transporting things to the moon, but that will have to wait for a future mission.