Lunar lander offers a gazing perspective of Earth from the moon on June 10, 2025, featuring a space snapshot of the day.
A peek at Resilience, the lunar project by ispace:
What's it all about?
After taking off from Florida's Space Coast on the Hakuto-R Mission 2, on Jan. 15, the Japanese company ispace's Resilience lunar lander found its place in lunar orbit on May 6. It then gracefully shifted its path to an orbit just 62 miles (100 kilometers) above the moon's surface. On May 27, Resilience snapped this breathtaking shot, with a view of Japan being obstructed by the clouds on Earth's surface, as mentioned in an ispace tweet.
Where in the Moon's neighborhood?
Resilience travels over the moon in its lunar orbit, with Mare Frigoris ("Sea of Cold") on the moon's near side as its preferred landing site.
What makes it astonishing?
ispace aimed to be among the first private companies to land a craft on the moon with Resilience. Despite its first mission ending unsuccessfully (crashing during the touchdown attempt in April 2023), ispace didn't backing down. Instead, in collaboration with NASA and JAXA, they designed and tested Resilience for the Hakuto-R Mission 2 (the R stands for "reboot"). Resilience carried five payloads, one of which was a tiny 11-pound (5 kg) rover named Tenacious, intended for collecting lunar samples, as explained by NASA.
Unfortunately, the landing for Resilience, scheduled for June 5, 2025, came to an abrupt halt when the telemetry data from the lander ceased coming in just before the soft landing, leaving everyone puzzled about Resilience's whereabouts. A few hours later, ispace announced that Resilience likely crashed on the moon, putting an end to the mission.
Thirsty for more insights?
Get more info about Resilience and ispace's other missions as they continue their journey back to the moon.
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(Note: Since Resilience crashed on the moon on its scheduled landing date in June 2025, the mission was concluded.)
Although Resilience, the lunar lander by ispace, was unsuccessful in its soft landing on June 5, 2025, it had previously captured a breathtaking view of space-and-astronomy, while orbiting the moon. Despite facing setbacks, ispace continues to push boundaries in technology and science, aiming to be among the first private companies to land a craft on the moon, with future missions still on the horizon. Stay updated with the latest space news and get more insights about Resilience by signing up for ispace's newsletter.
