A private lunar lander from Japan descended toward a touchdown on the moon Friday, but flight controllers lost contact with the spacecraft and were unsure of its fate. The Tokyo-based company ispace said its lander dropped out of lunar orbit as planned. But there was no immediate word on the outcome, following the hourlong descent.

Tokyo-based ispace Inc.’s second lunar lander attempt failed after it lost contact, a blow to Japan’s burgeoning commercial space industry. Ispace’s Resilience lander did not decelerate in time, and it was highly likely it made a hard landing on the moon,