Japan has become the world’s fifth country to put a spacecraft on the moon, after its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) made a soft landing on the lunar surface.
Tokyo’s space agency said on Saturday that it was examining the communication with its probe after the landing, during an attempt to revitalise a space programme that suffered recent setbacks.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said the SLIM landed on the moon’s surface at around 12:20 a.m. (15:20 GMT Friday), but it was still confirming communication with the probe.
Dubbed the “moon sniper”, SLIM attempted to land within 100 metres (328 feet) of its target, versus the conventional accuracy of several kilometres.