ispace’s Resilience lander crash lands on the Moon – Spaceflight Now
The ispace Resilience lunar lander is pictured after it was integrated into the SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle adapter about a week ahead of its launch on Jan. 15, 2025. Image: SpaceX via ispace
In a horrible case of deja vu, Japan-based company ispace got to the finish line with its robotic lunar lander, but was unsuccessful in safely touching down on the Moon’s surface.
The landing attempt came about 4.5 months after the lander lifted off on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. It was part of a rideshare mission alongside the Blue Ghost lander from Firefly Aerospace.
Mission teams in Japan made the call at about 8 a.m. JST (7 p.m. EDT, 2300 UTC) that due to the lack off communication from the lander, named Resilience, likely suffered what’s referred to as a “hard la...