SLIM Spacecraft Will Land On The Moon On January 19th

According to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan will be doing their first ever moon landing on January 19th.

To land on the moon, Japan will use it’s robotic Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) spacecraft. The plan calls for SLI to begin its decent towards the moon around 10 a.m. EST (1500 GMT; 12 Am Japanese Standard Time). The first ever Japanese moon landing will be scheduled to occur 20 minutes later.

The SLIM spacecraft launched atop a Japanese H-2A rocket on September 6th, and began it’s journey towards the moon. On Christmas day, the spacecraft will enter lunar orbit. After that, it will spend a month prepping for it’s touchdown.

Once it lands, Japan will be the 5th country to land on the moon.

_{Image Source: JAXA}