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day before Japan ’s Hakuto - R lunar lander apparentlycrashed into the moon ’s surfaceon Tuesday ( April 25 ) , it snapped a truly gorgeous moving-picture show of our major planet . The ikon , which is reminiscent of Apollo 8’siconic " Earthrise"photo , shows our planet sitting on top of the lunar horizon like a perfect bluish marble . The moon ’s shadow can be seen turn over over Australia , which wasexperiencing a total solar eclipseat the time ( April 20 ) .
Hakuto - R launch aboard aSpaceXFalcon 9 rocket as part of Tokyo - based private space companionship ispace ’s Mission 1 last December . If it had been successful , it would have represented the first commercial trade to touch down on the Sun Myung Moon . unluckily , that was n’t in the cards .
One of the last known images captured by Japan’s Hakuto-R lander before crashing into the moon shows a stunning ‘Earthrise’, with the shadow of the moon creeping over Australia during a total solar eclipse.
Earlier this calendar week , Hakuto - R made its final approach toward the lunar surface . It had traveled 879,000 mile ( 1.4 million kilometers ) to attain its attitude in range around the moon . But as the craft began its 60 - mile ( 100 kilometer ) fall , ground controller unexpectedly miss contact with it , The Washington Post report . After several frantic transactions , mission controllers reason out that the spacecraft had not landed as intended .
" We have to bear we could not complete the landing on the lunar control surface , " Takeshi Hakamada , ispace ’s laminitis and CEO , said during the alive program . afterwards analytic thinking revealed that Hakuto - R in all probability lam out of propellant to slow the descent of the space vehicle as it approach the ground .
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Japan’s private Hakuto-R lunar lander snapped this image of an ‘Earthrise’ shortly before losing contact with mission control.
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Hakuto - R is not the first private space venture to clangoring - country on the moon . In 2019 , the Beresheet investigation , a joint venture between Israeli company SpaceIL and Israeli Aerospace Industries , flap down into the lunar surfacewhen a gyro fail during its brake procedure ( though the probe may still have inadvertentlydelivered the first tardigradesto the moon ) . To engagement , only probes build up by government agencies comprise the United States , Russia andChinahave completed " soft " landing on the lunar month .
Despite its fate , Hakuto - R redeem some of the most dramatic images ever taken in lunar orbit , and its approach will provide valuable data for succeeding mission . And there will be many — India , Russia and SpaceX have lunar head trip schedule for later this year , and ispace is plan to launch two more lunation missions — one in 2024 and one in 2025 .
" We have already attain so many things during this Mission 1 , " Hakamada said during the Haruto - R webcast . Later , he added in a statement , " We will keep move forward . "
