TOKYO: Japanese company ispace is set to attempt the lunar touchdown of its uncrewed spacecraft on Friday (Jun 6), two years after its failed inaugural mission, in a bid to become the first company outside the United States to achieve a moon landing.

Tokyo-based ispace hopes to join U.S. firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace, which have accomplished commercial landings amid an intensifying global race for the moon that includes state-run missions from China and India.

Resilience, ispace's second lunar lander, is expected to touch down on Mare Frigoris, a basaltic plain about 900km from the moon's north pole, at 4:17am Friday local time (1917 GMT Thursday) following an hour-long descent from lunar orbit, according to the company.

In 2023, ispace's first lander crashed into the

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