The first lunar landing by a private company is about to take place, and you can watch a livestream of the event this week.
An attempt at the first privately funded lunar landing is about to take place, and you can watch a livestream of the effort on Tuesday.
Japan’s iSpace launched its Hakuto-R Series 1 lander to the moon aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in December, and since then it’s been heading for insertion into a lunar orbit, which it achieved on March 21.
“During the sequence, the lander will perform a braking burn, firing its main propulsion system to decelerate from orbit,” iSpace said on its website. “Utilizing a series of pre-set commands, the lander will adjust its attitude and reduce velocity in order to make a soft landing on the lunar surface. The process will take approximately one hour.”
The privately built Hakuto-R Series 1 lander is carrying two small moon rovers: the Sora-Q for the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, and the Rashid, built by the United Arab Emirates’ space agency.
