An attempt at the first privately funded lunar landing is about to take place, and you can watch a live stream of the effort in 2 hours.
The privately built Hakuto-R Series 1 lander is carrying two small moon rovers: the Sora-Q and the Rashid, built by the United Arab Emirates space agency.
The mission is primarily a test event aimed at proving iSpace’s ability to successfully land a payload on the lunar surface.
@thewebrecluse THANK YOU for this alert. This is a BIG event in history.
@codeWhisperer Its HUGE even if they don't manage the landing it's an amazing collaboration by several countries, businesses, and teams. No privately funded companies have managed this yet ... so I'm really looking forward to Japan accomplishing this. ❤️
@b4cks4w @codeWhisperer Still in occultation ... will be reestablishing communication when it reaches the other side of the moon shortly.
As I write this we're about 15 minutes from touchdown
Thanks for putting this out there, Elaine. It's amazing.
@FernLovebond @b4cks4w @codeWhisperer Glad to have been able to share this historic moment with everyone ❤️
@b4cks4w @FernLovebond @codeWhisperer I KNOW!!!!!!!! Beautiful!
@b4cks4w @FernLovebond @codeWhisperer ohhhh THAT VIDEO!!!!!
@b4cks4w @thewebrecluse @codeWhisperer
Damn, the tension is so strong right now.
@FernLovebond @b4cks4w @codeWhisperer I'm not worried 😆
@FernLovebond @thewebrecluse @codeWhisperer
Who are all the 12 year olds in the control room
@FernLovebond @thewebrecluse @codeWhisperer
Not a rocket scientist but I suggest slowing it down
@thewebrecluse @b4cks4w @codeWhisperer
Tension continues. The videos make a nice change from the intermittent pleas for another moment, but the music is a little tense, too.
Hope they get the connection soon, tho: this is kind of great to see the next step.
@thewebrecluse @b4cks4w @codeWhisperer
back to live; can't connect to the lander
@FernLovebond @thewebrecluse @b4cks4w 😞 but still 😮
@codeWhisperer @thewebrecluse @b4cks4w
Yeah, it's a little disappointing, and something might change (didn't we have a lander that didn't connect for a good while & then suddenly one day just started working again?), but overall it's still super great we've gone at it again.
@FernLovebond @codeWhisperer @b4cks4w Getting as far as they have its a MAJOR accomplishment. It is still historical and still shows how much further they have come than any other company in the private space sector. It's possible they will establish communications ... we'll just have to see. But it's astounding what they have done. I have little faith in everyone else managing this ... but I have much faith in #iSpace continuing to do epic work and continuing with their next missions.
@FernLovebond @codeWhisperer @b4cks4w Its possible it landed and tipped ... since they said they had communication JUST as it touched down and then lost it again.
@thewebrecluse @codeWhisperer @b4cks4w
Yeah, I'm holding on to some hope about it. And you're 100% right, it's still a really great accomplishment.
I mean, Sakanaction's song is now officially on the moon, so there's *that* success, anyway ;-)
Sakanaction – SORATO
@FernLovebond @codeWhisperer @b4cks4w In case you guys missed the updates from @Kinnison ABOUT #iSpace ...
https://apnews.com/article/moon-lunar-landing-crash-japan-32230ba28a3c41824ec4ee9ed7d6ed4c
@thewebrecluse @FernLovebond @b4cks4w @Kinnison
Thanks! I read somewhere that altitude sensor suddenly (and properly) had a much higher reading, but it was discarded because it was thought to be erroneous.
Redundancy matters matters!
@b4cks4w @thewebrecluse @codeWhisperer
Yeah, the Earth from over the Moon, right? The moon shadow is kind of amazing 🙂
Take that, flat Earthers.
Comparing this with the SpaceX rocket.
THIS is the way space exploration needs to be done. A broad international coalition, focused on the science, taking achievable steps.
Not focused on one ego.
@tyghebright Afuckingmen to this TRUTH. It takes a team, it takes collaboration ... this is why SpaceX continues to fail miserably.
@thewebrecluse @codeWhisperer
I had to step away, where's it at?