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Japan’s SLIM spacecraft sticks moon landing – upside-down


The Japan Aerospace Exploration Company shared the first image of its lander on the lunar surface, revealing that the spacecraft touched down on the moon

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Company shared the first image of its lander on the lunar surface, revealing that the spacecraft touched down on the moon upside-down. It’s a remarkable recovery for the spacecraft, which experienced an “abnormality in the main engine” that affecting the landing orientation when it was just 50 meters above the lunar surface, JAXA said in an update Thursday. Despite this abnormality — which resulted in the spacecraft’s solar panels being unable to charge, because they are not oriented properly wit the sun — the country nevertheless became the fifth nation ever to pull off a soft landing on the moon.

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