First private moon landing appears to have failed

First private moon landing appears to have failed

An attempt to land the first privately-funded spacecraft on the moon appears to have failed.

Japan's ispace Inc hoped its Hakuto-R lander would touch down in the moon's Atlas crater after a 100-day journey.

But after completing its final orbit of the moon, and decelerating from 6000 kilometres per hour to a walking pace a few metres above the surface, the signal from the lander was lost.