Japanese startup Ispace's failed Hakuto-R moon landing mission last month was caused by an altitude miscalculation that meant the spacecraft ran out of fuel, the company said Friday.
Tokyo-based Ispace lost connection with the Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander after the spacecraft attempted what would have been the world's first commercial soft-landing on the moon's surface.
The crash was the latest setback for Japan in outerspace. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency in March had to destroy its new medium-lift H3 rocket after it reached space, and its solid-fuel Epsilon rocket failed after launch in October.
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