Japan's Resilience spacecraft enters lunar orbit, begins landing prep
Japan's private lunar lander, Resilience, has successfully entered lunar orbit, marking a major milestone for Tokyo-based ispace and the nation's ambitions in space exploration.
The spacecraft completed its critical lunar orbit insertion at 2:11 am IST on May 7, 2025, after a journey spanning nearly five months and over 1.1 million kilometers through deep space.
Launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in January, Resilience carries the TENACIOUS micro rover-designed in Luxembourg-and a suite of scientific and cultural payloads from international partners.
The mission's target is Mare Frigoris, a vast plain in the Moon's northern hemisphere, with a landing attempt scheduled for June 5, 2025. The mission aims to demonstrate new technologies, collect lunar soil. (Photo: ispace)
The successful orbit injection required a nine-minute main thruster burn, the longest of the mission so far, and signals the start of a month-long preparation period before the descent to the lunar surface.
'We are incredibly pleased that the RESILIENCE lander has successfully reached lunar orbit as planned today,' said ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada, crediting lessons learned from the company's previous attempt in 2023, which ended in a crash landing.
If Resilience achieves a soft landing, ispace will become the first Japanese company-and one of only a handful of private firms globally-to land on the Moon, following recent successes by Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines.
The mission aims to demonstrate new technologies, collect lunar soil samples with the TENACIOUS rover, and deliver international payloads, including a memory disk from UNESCO and a miniature artwork.
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