Japan hopes to join an elite club by landing on the moon: A closer look

Japan hopes to make the world's first “pinpoint landing” on the moon, joining a modern push for lunar contact with roots in the Cold War-era competition between the United States and Soviet Union. Japan’s attempt early Saturday to bring down its lander at a precise location follows the April failure of a Japanese company’s spacecraft that apparently crashed while attempting to land on the moon. As Japan and others look to enter a club so far occupied by only the United States, the Soviet Union, India and China, victory means international scientific and diplomatic accolades and potential domestic political gains. Failure means a very expensive, and public, embarrassment.