Japan aims to make 1st ever moon landing on Jan20

Tokyo: The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's (JAXA) Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) is expected to make the first-ever landing on the lunar surface on January 20. If successful, Japan will become just the fifth country to successfully soft-land on the moon, after Russia, the US, China and India.

SLIM and X-Ray Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) lifted off aboard a homegrown H-IIA rocket in Japan in September. The 2.7 metre long SLIM "is currently operating smoothly", the JAXA said in a statement.