Space Startup to Launch Lunar Lander ‘Resilience’ from Kennedy Space Center on Jan. 15; If Successful, Will Be 1st for Japanese Companies

The Yomiuri Shimbun

10:30 JST, January 9, 2025

A space startup will launch its lunar lander Resilience from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 15., Tokyo-based ispace, Inc. announced Thursday.

After SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket carrying Resilience is launched, it will take four and a half months to travel to the moon. If it succeeds in landing on the moon, it will be the first such feat by a Japanese company.

The company attempted to land on the moon in the spring of 2023, only to fail. As for the private sector, a U.S. space company succeeded for the first time in the world last February.