SpaceX will launch the Japanese lunar module into space and land in April next year.

According to news in the morning of December 12, Beijing time, Japanese private lunar exploration company iSpace successfully launched the lunar module into space on Sunday with the help of SpaceX. SpaceX uses Falcon 9 rockets to serve iSpace.

"this is the beginning of a new era," iSpace CEO and founder Takeshi Hakamada told the media.

The Mission-1 lunar module is on its way to the moon and is expected to land at the end of April next year.

ISpace was founded more than a decade ago, and it was originally a small team participating in the Google Lunar Xprize competition. Later, when the Lunar Xprize competition was cancelled, iSpace changed its goal, and Takeshi Hakamada hoped that the company could build an economically viable ecosystem around the moon.

ISpace has grown gradually over the past period of time, and now the company has more than 200 employees around the world. It is reported that many investors have invested in iSpace. Japan Development Bank, Suzuki Motor, Japan Airlines and Airbus Investment Company have all bet on iSpace, and the company has raised a total of 237 million US dollars.

ISpace has set 10 milestone tasks in this mission, and so far 3 have been completed: launch preparation, post-launch deployment, and establishment of communication connections. The next task is to deploy mobile in-orbit, and then take a month to fly to lunar orbit.

"I have 100% confidence in our engineering team," Takeshi Hakamada said. "they have been doing the right thing to achieve their goal of successfully landing on the moon."

If successful, iSpace will be the first private company to land on the lunar surface.