NASA spotted the wreckage of a lunar lander, which could be the first privately-funded spacecraft to land on the moon. Four large craters, which seem to be the wreckage of Japanese company ispace’s Hakuto-R mission 1 lander, were discovered. The mission, which launched on Dec. 11, 2022, on a Space X Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket, lost contact with flight controllers last month. Despite successfully entering the moon’s orbit on March 21, Hakuto-R lost connection during its landing attempt on April 25, 2023. According to the ispace team, the lunar lander did not safely touch down on the moon’s surface. It is believed that a loss of propellant in the final stages of landing caused the spacecraft to descend rapidly on the moon’s surface. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured 10 images of the site, which covered an area roughly 24 by 30 miles. "This site will be analyzed more over the coming months as LROC has the opportunity to re-image the site under various geometries," said LRO Engineer Emerson Spreyerer. The captured images show as many as four prominent pieces of debris, likely different sections of the lander’s body.

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