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Japan firm launches first commercial lunar lander
The Straits Times
|December 12, 2022
TOKYO A Japanese start-up's spacecraft was launched to the Moon on Sunday in the country's first lunar mission and the first of its kind by a private company.
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The launch was carried out by Mr Elon Musk's SpaceX at Cape Canaveral in the US state of Florida after two postponements for additional pre-flight checks.
The spacecraft, produced by Tokyo-based start-up ispace, blasted off aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 2.38am (3.38pm Singapore time), live footage of the launch showed.
"Our first mission will lay the groundwork for unleashing the Moon's potential and transforming it into a robust and vibrant economic system," ispace chief executive Takeshi Hakamada said in a statement.
Only the national space agencies of the US, Russia and China have achieved soft landings on Earth's nearest neighbour in the past half century.
This story is from the December 12, 2022 edition of The Straits Times.
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