People raise their hands after the successful lunar exploration smart lander (SLIM) landing on the moon during a public viewing event in Sagamihara, south of Tokyo, on January 20, 2024.
Kim Kyung-hoon | Reuters
Japan claimed its claim among space powers on Friday when its SLIM spacecraft reached the moon’s surface.
Japan’s SLIM lander was launched in September and landed on the lunar surface at around 10:20 a.m. Eastern time, according to telemetry from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). Engineers checked the condition of the spacecraft immediately after landing.
This feat makes Japan the fifth country to land on the moon, after Russia (then the Soviet Union), the United States, China, and India. Last year, India joined the list of moon landings with the Chandrayaan-3 mission.
SLIM in Japan stands for “Smart Lander for Investigating Moon” and is a cargo investigation mission. It carries a variety of scientific payloads, including an analytical camera and a pair of lunar rovers.
An artist’s recreation of the SLIM lunar module that landed on the moon.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
SLIM lunar lander before launch.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency