Japan Announces Successful Moon Landing

Japan joins an elite club of nations that includes the United States of America, the Soviet Union, Communist China, and India. 

A journalist wearing a VR device tries a simulation of Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM)'s moon landing, at Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)'s facility, in Sagamihara, south of Tokyo, Japan, on Jan. 19, 2024. Kim Kyung-Hoon/Reuters

Japan became the fifth nation to successfully land a spacecraft on the Moon.

The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) touched down around 12:20 a.m. Tokyo time on Jan. 20 (1520 GMT Jan. 19), according to the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency.