A private Japanese aerospace firm is striving to land an uncrewed robotic lander on the moon and deploy a rover today, following an unsuccessful attempt in April 2023.

Reaching the lunar surface presents difficulties, as evidenced by numerous failed landings. While Firefly Aerospace achieved success in March, another American company, Intuitive Machines, ended up toppled in a crater shortly thereafter.

Tokyo-based ispace has been gearing up for this moment for the Hakuto-R mission for approximately 4.5 months. Its spacecraft, named Resilience, was among two headed to the moon aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in mid-January. Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander, its companion on the journey, opted for a quicker route and landed on March 2. While Firefly wasn’t the first private robotic lander to make the trip, it was the first to successfully land upright and undamaged.

Ispace’s lander chose a longer path to save on fuel, which is vital since their first lander crashed after depleting fuel during descent.

Here’s how to view the second-chance event.

The Hakuto-R mission aims to touch down near the center of Mare Frigoris, or the Sea of Cold, at 3:17 p.m. ET on Thursday, June 5 (4:24 a.m. on June 6 in Japan). Livestream coverage will commence roughly an hour earlier at 2:10 p.m. ET, with English translation provided. The public can also view the event on X, the social media platform owned by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, or bookmark this article and revisit to watch the broadcast below.

Landing on the moon is challenging due to its exosphere, which provides almost no atmospheric drag to decelerate a spacecraft as it nears the surface. Furthermore, there are no GPS systems available on the moon to assist in guiding a craft to its landing location. Engineers must navigate these obstacles from 239,000 miles away.