Japan is on Sunday, December 11, with the launch of the first spacecraft to the moon from Cape Canaveral in the US state of Florida.
The Hakuto-R spacecraft is scheduled to be launched by private Japanese startup iSpace, after being delayed twice due to inspections of the SpaceX9 rocket carrying the vehicle.
The iSpace vehicle aims to put a small satellite of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in orbit around the moon to search for water deposits before it lands in the Atlas crater. The M1 lander will deploy the UAE’s four-wheeled Rashid Explorer, two robotic probes and a two-wheeled device the size of a baseball from the Japan Aerospace Agency.
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The national space agencies of the United States, Russia and China have landed on the moon in the past 50 years, but no company has done so.
The success of the mission will be a milestone in space cooperation between Japan and the United States at a time when China is becoming increasingly competitive in space.
On Friday, billionaire Yusaku Maezawa revealed the eight crew he hopes to make the trip to the moon as soon as 2023.
The name Hakuto refers to the white rabbit who lives on the moon in Japanese folklore.
And the year 2023 is the year of the rabbit in the Asian calendar. The vehicle, which was assembled in Germany, is expected to land on the lunar surface in late April.