Japan’s precision moon lander has hit its target, but appears to be upside down

This image provided by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency shows an image taken by a Lunar Excursion Vehicle 2 (LEV-2) of a robotic moon rover called SLIM on the moon (Picture: JAXA/Takara Tomy/Sony Group Corporation/Doshisha University via AP)

Japan’s space agency said on Thursday that its first lunar mission hit the tiny patch of the moon’s surface it was aiming for, in a successful demonstration of its pinpoint landing system — although the probe appears to be lying upside down.

Japan became the fifth country in history to reach the moon when the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, touched down on the Moon early on Saturday.