Image #221214

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the ispace’s HAKUTO-R Mission 1 – the first privately-led Japanese mission to land on the lunar surface – from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 2:38 a.m. on 11 December 2022. Also onboard this mission is NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Lunar Flashlight as well as two small lunar rovers built by Japan and the United Arab Emirates respectively. Following stage separation, the first stage returned to Earth to land on Landing Zone 2 (LZ-2) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.