Japan becomes 5th country to land spacecraft on moon

Well done JAXA - congrats to all Japanese people! A pretty exclusive club to be joining with just 5 nations in it. The information gained will be very useful for the next stages of Japans space travel journey.

Next up - Japanese astronauts to walk on the moon by 2030.

travelbangaijinToday 06:35 am JST

So 1960s..the United States is flying drone helicopters on Saturn moons in 2024

No need to take away from Japan's accomplishments.

A bit too late to the party but better late than never. Goodish job Japan.

Congratulations to the JAXA technicians, designers, engineers, and dreamers!

Let's hope that the problems with the solar panels are resolved today. No power = short-lived window for research. Still, despite this set-back, it's still an amazing achievement. Well done, Japan!

I find it really interesting that a toy maker was part of the group making the rover. Goes to show how sophisticated toys are getting these days.

Hear to that. Space is for everyone.

I for one apologize for any unintended implications and congratulate the accomplishment unreservedly.

I hope others can for their unfortunate labels.

I've read that landing on the moon is quite challenging as the moon has no atmosphere to slow and control landing unlike, say, Mars. If humans are going to build a moon base, though, precision landing is essential.

Well done, Japan.

Well done JAXA!

Congrats Japan!

“Russia did this in the 1960s, so if they need a help the phone is always open.”

Japan is catching up with much better and refined technology. Would you please just stop whining.

Is everyone in the picture video taping a livestream of the landing? They should put down their phones and try living in the moment. The landing has been clearly recorded anyway.

Congratulations JAXA, but I can’t help but think where the money could've been better spent: Ishikawa? Fukushima? The homeless? Just a thought for those still in need, rather than wishing on a moon.

So many petty people who hate hearing anything positive about Japan. Also, don't forget JAXA was the first to put a spacecraft on an asteroid.

Congratulations! No small feat. I live near the JAXA buildings on 東八道路 so feel very proud

Why landing on the moon is proving more difficult today than 50 years ago

https://amp.theguardian.com/science/2024/jan/12/why-landing-on-the-moon-is-proving-more-difficult-today-than-50-years-ago

Good show, JAXA. Keep looking up!

Good job JAXA! All three spacecraft made it to the lunar surface softly. Unfortunately, the SLIM lander is upside down. Something happened at the very last minute to flip the craft around and upside down. The batteries have now died; we must wait and see what happens. JAXA has a lot to learn about involving the public and keeping them informed. I remember the NASA and JPL missions in the 1960s and 1970s. They made the public an equal partner and kept us on the edge of our seats with detailed commentary and live pictures. Scientists always want to work in secret, but they should remember that the public pays the bills. There is a lot of public interest, there were over 45,000 people waiting for over an hour to watch the 2:15 AM (JST) news conference. Again, congratulations for landing on the Moon, Japan!

It was never a race. The US only went to the moon because the Russians had beaten them to every other milestone. The Russian were not planning on a moon trip so the US could claim a "victory" over its cold war enemy.

Who will be country no. 6?

Mr KiplingToday 08:41 am JST

The Russian were not planning on a moon trip

Then why did the blow up their rockets repeatedly?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N1_(rocket)#Launch_history

So sad. Such a failed state.

Congratulations, Japan. :)

bit too late to the party but better late than never. Goodish job Japan.

And

Well done. But 60 years late; once it's all tried and tested. And it seems to be broken.

Look, at the end of the day, a dub is still a dub. Successfully landing on the moon is a massive challenge even for extremely developed countries.

More innovation and boundary-pushing advancements from Japan certainly are desirable but for now I think they've earned their praise for even being able to do this.

Bravo Zulu JAXA!

Japan follows the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India in reaching the moon.

Just to clarify the details, the USSR LUNA 2 program was the first to moon.

Seems they mixed up the order there.

I thought the telemetry indicated it rolled to position covering the solar panels.

It was not supposed to land “upright” as you might assume looking at the shape. It had a very unusual landing concept of landing on one corner of the wide end of the craft, then flopping over so it looked like a top in its side.

Well done

An accomplishment congratulated by the international scientific community as it is the first time such a pinpoint landing has been achieved.

Why was Japan unable to accomplish this in the 1980s?

The achievement of Hayabusa seems much more difficult than landing on the moon.

Excellent work. When other countries that came before have also been trying to get back to the moon and with very mixed success, Japan has done it in a fantastic way. Just keep at it and don’t let go of this moment.

Yoku dekimashita.

Congratulations to Japan's space agency!

Congratulations to Tomy Takara company for sending a Transformer to the moon! That is just awesome.

If genuine scientific breakthroughs, a more in depth knowledge of the Moon origins, discoveries to inspire and marvel at, whole hearted congratulation are in order.

I guess I got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning, because I wonder the costs, the priority need to find breakthroughs to Japan acute depopulation crisis.

A elderly care service short of skilled nursing professionals.

Well done JAX, Congratulations Japan!!!

My country but human beings on the moon and safely brought them back….. 55 years ago.

But congratulations or something.

ClippetyClopToday  12:02 pm JST

despite that, we are waiting for the evidence of this lander... , no reason to make a groundless article that is not relevant for the citizen taxpayers.

what is wrong with Japanese batteries and solar panels? use made-in-China products if Japanese technology can be used.

According to the article, data was being transmitted back to Earth, so GIVE US THE DATA!

I specifically read yesterday it would land in soft Martian soil inside the crater and not near the crater on old lava.

????

Somebody’s having you on.

Well done JAXA! congratulations on successful landing on lunar successful. Many Japanese and their space missions are going to useful for better lives of mankind and scientific research world. I believe that, JAXA and other space agencies may help us to bring better technological services in our day to day life .

Kipling:

It was never a race. The US only went to the moon because the Russians had beaten them to every other milestone. The Russian were not planning on a moon trip so the US could claim a "victory" over its cold war enemy. 

Who will be country no. 6?

Utter nonsense.

Firstly, the Soviets very much had ambition and plans to put cosmonauts on the moon, including lunar flybys and a manned lunar landing. The programs were scrapped for various technical reasons, largely due to the series of catastrophic failures of the primary launch N1 rockets which were totally unstable. But they were absolutely planned and funded. Saying otherwise is just patent disinformation.

The ENTIRE SPACE RACE was nothing but pure geopolitical gamesmanship in space, for all sides. But to try and poo poo the moon landings, arguably one of if not THE greatest scientific triumph in human history, is just absurd. No one will ultimately care who was the first country to put fruit flys and chimpanzees into orbit 13 months before the other guy.

Putting HUMAN BEINGS on the moon, another celestial body, walking around and returning home, multiple times, is inarguably one of the great milestones in human endeavor. Trying to belittle that because “they only did it for x reason” is just farcical and the reason your posts are laughably ratioed.

"While most previous probes have used landing zones about 10 kilometers (six miles) wide, SLIM was aiming at a target of just 100 meters (330 feet)."

congratulation JAXA, it is real a sniper mission! what a amazing technology, as always!

Awesome. Explore more.

I think this is all waste of tax payers money. I would be more interested in collected all the trash satellites in space and try to build a self sustaining system that can support life.

i hope these space research around the world focuses on more realistic and beneficial objectives than letting their mind wondering loosely in the space.

Congrats!

Are there any links where live pictures of videos can be seen from the probe please?

Huge achievement after a lot of hard work, hopefully just the first on many to come (as long as proper support for scientific development is given by the government).

Japan joins the glorious ranks of India in achieving lunar research progression!

Stayed up to watch this and was totally disappointed. The camera spent most of the time watching the expressionless face of the JAXA representative and his female sidekick, instead of the telemetry panel the TV presenters were discussing.

The BBC feed was actually better than NHK’s (despite the poor translation) as we could see the flippin’ dials.

After it landed everything went dead and they had no one to fill us in. Just people running around in a panic, and the same message, “checking status, please wait” repeated endlessly. No one to take responsibility…

Japan, India, United States, the Soviet Union, and China are doing fine.