Japanese company ispace said its uncrewed moon lander likely crashed onto the lunar surface during its touchdown attempt on Friday, marking another failure two years after an unsuccessful inaugural mission.

Japanese startup ispace Inc. said Friday that a lunar probe developed by the company has failed in a moon landing again. The vehicle was scheduled to land on the moon shortly past 4 a.m. Friday Japan time,

Japan's hopes of achieving its first soft touchdown on the Moon by a private company were dashed on Friday when the mission was aborted after an assumed crash landing, the startup said. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to make history as only the third private firm — and the first outside the United States — to achieve a controlled arrival on the lunar surface.