Japan’s space agency has suspended the ‘Moon Sniper’ lunar mission for the third time. The announcement came half an hour before the rocket was scheduled to launch on Monday. News Reuters.
The decision was made due to strong winds, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said. However, the company has not announced any date for the next launch attempt.
After Russia and India, Japan aimed to start a mission to the moon. The country was also prepared in the same way. However, the rocket launch was postponed at the last moment.
According to the report, the H-2A rocket was supposed to be launched on Monday but it was postponed by the Japanese space agency. The cancellation was announced less than half an hour before the launch.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), which is in charge of operating the rocket, confirmed the information. The Japanese rocket is carrying the JAXA’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), which will be the first Japanese spacecraft to land on the Moon. Earlier, Tokyo-based startup iSpace’s lunar lander Hakuto-R mission-1 failed last April.