In A Few Hours, The First Private Venture Soft Drop Lunar Landing Should Be Complete... [Sorry, Elon.]

This eclipses Mr. Musk's efforts thus far, and by quite a distance.

A Japanese company, iSpace, in a for-profit joint venture with Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (in the UAE), has taken a long, slow low-energy ride to the moon (smart conservation of resources!) -- and around lunch in New York, will drop the craft at right gently onto the lunar surface. Or so it is hoped. Here's the story of the first private enterprise "feet on the moon" -- and a bit:

. . .Live coverage of the landing is expected to begin Tuesday as early as 11:20 a.m. ET, or about an hour and 20 minutes ahead of the scheduled landing. Touchdown is expected to occur Tuesday at 12:40 p.m. ET, which is Wednesday at 1:40 a.m. Japan Standard Time.

The lunar lander, called Hakuto-R, is carrying the Rashid rover, which was built by Dubai’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) — the first Arab-built lunar spacecraft.

In history, only three countries have ever executed a controlled landing on the moon — the United States, the former Soviet Union and China. The US remains the only country to have put humans on the moon. . . .

Now you know -- more lobby disclosures up next -- for Amgen, and then, maybe tomorrow. . . Amazon. Grin. . . .

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