As Private Lunar Competition Heats up, ispace’s 3rd Moon Launch Moves to 2026
![As Private Lunar Competition Heats up, ispace’s 3rd Moon Launch Moves to 2026](https://media2.spaceref.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/29123921/apex-1.0.png)
Ispace announces APEX 1.0.
Image credit: ispace livestream.
The Moon is open for business. That much is clear. What is not clear is which company will get there first. The Tokyo-based firm, ispace, whose Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander had crashed into the Moon’s Atlas crater earlier this year, announced on Thursday (September 28) that it had inked a $55 million NASA contract in a bid to do what three governments, though no private company, has yet to achieve: a lunar landing.