<ul><li>Japanese start-up ispace conceded on Wednesday that its attempt to become the first company to land on the Moon had failed.</li><li>The unmanned Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander was scheduled to touch down on the Moon's surface overnight, but the firm could not establish contact.</li><li>The company said its engineers were working to establish why the landing had failed, and it is currently developing two further attempts to land on the lunar surface.</li><li>The mission had begun with the lander's launch last December aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, and it was carrying a lunar rover from the UAE.</li></ul>

Private spacecraft's historic Moon landing ends in a failure

Discover more