Japan’s ispace launches historic first commercial Moon lander.

A Japanese space startup has launched its own private lander to the Moon aboard a SpaceX rocket, marking a significant step towards what would be a historic first, both for the nation and a private company.

The Tokyo-based ispace Inc’s HAKUTO-R mission took off without incident from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Sunday after two postponements caused by inspections of its SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

The company designed its craft to use minimal fuel to save money and leave more room for cargo.

It is taking a slow, low-energy path to the Moon, flying 1.6 million km (one million miles) from Earth before looping back and making a planned landing by the end of April.

By contrast, NASA’s Orion crew capsule with test dummies took five days to reach the Moon last month. The lunar flyby mission is anticipated to end on Sunday with a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Source: www.aljazeera.com

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