In a historic feat, Japan's space agency Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) confirmed landing of its lunar spacecraft named 'Smart Lander for Investigating Moon' (SLIM) on the moon's surface.
With this Japan becomes the 5th country in the world to achieve this feat.
SLIM spacecraft was launched on September 6, 2023 on a Mitsubishi Heavy H2A rocket without any astronauts and it landed on the moon on 19th January, 2024.
Before Japan, the 4 countries to achieve soft landing on the lunar surface were
1) Russia (then the Soviet Union)
2) the USA
3) China
4) India
Social Plugin