A little red house is set to land on the Moon within days - they call it The Moonhouse
A little red house is set to land on the Moon within days - they call it The Moonhouse
The project has been in the pipeline since 1999 and the house will be carried on a lunar rover before making its own 8cm touchdown on the surface
The Moonhouse
(Image: The Moonhouse )
A traditional Swedish cottage is set to become the first 'house' to ever land on the moon next month. On June 5, at 9.24pm CET, the artwork known as The Moonhouse, a tiny red house which has been travelling through space for more than four months aboard the lunar lander RESILIENCE, will enter its most critical phase, a soft landing in the Mare Frigoris region — the sea of cold.
In 1999, Swedish artist Mikael Genberg envisioned placing a classic red house with white corners on the moon.
Since then, a diverse group of "engineers, dreamers, and passionate believers" have kept the vision alive — across time and space, across the Earth, and now into deep space. Love dreamy Welsh homes? Sign up to our newsletter here .
"It's not about science or politics," says Genberg.
"It's about reminding us of what we all share — our humanity, our imagination, and our longing for home.
"A red house gazing back at the Pale Blue Dot, as Carl Sagan once described our fragile planet."
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Despite decades of technological advancement, landing on the Moon remains one of the most complex challenges in spaceflight.
Japanese ispace is now undertaking its second mission after an unsuccessful attempt in 2023.
The project demands extreme precision — and even with a successful landing, the most delicate moment will still lie ahead.
Mounted on the front of the lunar rover, TENACIOUS, is the artwork itself.
Once the lander touches down, the rover will be deployed to scout the moon's surface for the perfect site.
The Moonhouse then must find its place — and perform its own little moon landing: a drop of just eight centimetres, powered only by gravity.
"We'll be holding our breath until the images reach us," said Emil Vinterhav, technical lead for The Moonhouse.
Antoine Bocquier, rover pilot and senior space system engineer at ispace, said: "It's a highly delicate manoeuvre, remotely operated from 400,000 kilometres away. I will guide the rover to a location that is both stable and symbolically meaningful."
Communications director, Hans Elis Johansson, who has been part of the project from the beginning, added: "This is more than a work of art. It is a 26-year journey of persistence, collaboration, and belief — a red little house that dares to dream. On the moon. Forever."
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