ispace Completes Success 7 of Mission 2 Milestones

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 7, 2025--

ispace, inc. (ispace) ( TOKYO: 9348 ), a global lunar exploration company, announced today that its RESILIENCE lunar lander successfully entered lunar orbit on May 7, 2025, at 5:41 a.m. JST (May 6, 2025, 20:41 UTC). This marks the completion of Success 7 milestone of Mission 2 “SMBC x HAKUTO-R Venture Moon.”

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ispace engineers performed the injection maneuver from the Mission Control Center in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan in accordance with the mission operation plan. The orbital maneuver required a main thruster burn lasting approximately 9 minutes, the longest to date during Mission 2. RESILIENCE is now maintaining a stable attitude in its planned orbit above the lunar surface. Mission operations specialists are now preparing for final orbit maneuvers after reaffirming ispace’s ability to deliver spacecraft and payloads into lunar orbit. A lunar landing is scheduled for no earlier than June 5, 2025 (UTC) (June 6, 2025, JST).

“First and foremost, we are extremely pleased that the RESILIENCE lander successfully reached lunar orbit as planned today,” said Takeshi Hakamada, Founder & CEO of ispace. “We have successfully completed maneuvers so far by leveraging the operational experience gained in Mission 1, and I am very proud of the crew for successfully completing the most critical maneuver and entering lunar orbit. We will continue to proceed with careful operations and thorough preparations to ensure the success of the lunar landing.”

Previously, RESILIENCE completed all deep space orbital maneuvers at 10:00 UTC on April 24, 2025, returning the lander from deep space near to the Moon in order to complete the orbit injection. At its furthest distance, RESILIENCE was 1.1 million kilometers from Earth. Before that RESILIENCE completed a lunar flyby, verifying operation of the main propulsion system, as well as the related guidance, control, and navigation system. Following the flyby, the lander continued its deep space journey, spending approximately two months in a low-energy transfer orbit.

RESILIENCE was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 6:11:39 UTC, Jan. 15, 2025, and was successfully deployed from the rocket at 7:44:24 UTC. The RESILIENCE lander has completed the Earth orbit (Phase 1 in the figure) as well as the lunar flyby, known as Success 5. It has completed the low energy transfer orbit (Phase 2 in the figure) with completion of all deep space maneuvers and is now in lunar orbit.

Mission 2 Milestones

ispace has released a transparent set of criteria known as Mission 2 Milestones between launch and landing and aims to achieve the success criteria established for each of these milestones. The results from this mission as part of the HAKUTO-R lunar exploration program, will be weighed and evaluated against the criteria and lessons learned will be incorporated into future missions already in development.

Mission 2 Payloads

On board the RESILIENCE lunar lander will be commercial customer payloads including:

The RESILIENCE lander will serve as a cultural artifact, carrying a UNESCO memory disk that preserves linguistic and cultural diversity.

ispace is leveraging its global presence through its three business units in Japan, the U.S., and Luxembourg, for the simultaneous development of upcoming missions. Mission 2, featuring the RESILIENCE lunar lander, is led by ispace Japan and was launched on Jan. 15, 2025. In this mission, TENACIOUS micro rover developed by ispace Europe SA to be deployed on the lunar surface to conduct technological demonstration of regolith extraction as well as mobility on the lunar surface Mission 3, debuting the APEX 1.0 lunar lander, is led by ispace-U.S. and is expected to launch in 2026. The company’s fourth mission, which will utilize the Series 3 lander, currently being designed in Japan, is scheduled to be launched by 2027.

About ispace, inc. ( https://ispace-inc.com )

ispace, a global lunar resource development company with the vision, “Expand our planet. Expand our future.”, specializes in designing and building lunar landers and rovers. ispace aims to extend the sphere of human life into space and create a sustainable world by providing high-frequency, low-cost transportation services to the Moon. The company has business entities in Japan, Luxembourg, and the United States with more than 300 employees worldwide. For more information, visit: www.ispace-inc.com and follow us on X: @ispace_inc.

ispace Completes Success 7 of Mission 2 Milestones

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Nikita Kucherov became the Tampa Bay Lightning’s career points leader with an assist in the first period against the Utah Mammoth on Saturday night.

Kucherov fired a shot on the power play and Brayden Point poked in the rebound, giving Kucherov his 10th assist of the season. The Lightning immediately spilled onto the ice to congratulate him. It was the reigning Hart Trophy winner's 1,138th point (405 goals, 733 assists) in his 890th game to surpass the franchise mark held by Steven Stamkos (1,137 points over 1,082 games).

“He’s arguably the smartest player I’ve ever coached,” said coach Jon Cooper, who took over the Lightning in March 2013 and has led them to two Stanley Cup titles. “He’s always multiple steps ahead.”

Cooper recalled a moment when he was breaking down video with Kucherov.

“I’m like, ‘All right, I’ve got him here about some learning thing.’ He’s like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa’ and he makes me back the clip up,” Cooper recounted. “He’s like, ‘Well, look at this, this, this,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh my god, yeah, you’re right.’ His mastery of his skill set and his deception out there, it's uncanny what he can do.”

The 33-year-old Kucherov scored his first NHL point on his first shot when he scored against the New York Rangers and Hall of Fame goaltender Henrik Lundqvist on Nov. 25, 2013. One month later, Kucherov, a second-round pick in 2011, recorded his first assist on his way to becoming the franchise’s leader in the category.

“He’s a wizard with the puck,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “It’s not that he’s a scorer, but his puck distribution, the way he handles the puck, the way he’s able to slow it down off the rush, or an O-zone play, and buy himself time and time for his teammates to get open, is elite.”

Kucherov finished with 44 goals and 86 assists last season in an MVP-winning season. He’s off to a four-goal, 10-assist start this season.

What Colorado defenseman Josh Manson appreciates is the ease of Kucherov's game.

“He just gets the puck and calms things down,” Manson said. “He doesn’t look at you, and you think you have him, but you don’t. You have to be on your toes and cautious because he’s always looking to find a lane. He’s always looking to slip by you, and he’s very deceptive. I think deception is a real key to his game.”

AP Sports Writer Pat Graham in Denver contributed to this report.

See AP’s full NHL coverage here

Tampa Bay Lightning celebrate right wing Nikita Kucherov (obscured) is surrounded by teammates after he became the franchise's all-time points leader with an assist on center Brayden Point's goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Utah Mammoth, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)

Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Pontus Holmberg (29) celebrates right wing Nikita Kucherov (86) who became the franchise's all-time points leader with an assist on center Brayden Point's goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Utah Mammoth Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Melissa Majchrzak)