Japan Robot Explorer Lands on Moon, Status of Success Unclear

Japan just became the latest country to set up camp on the moon -- although, how hard it actually touched down is still a little unclear.

Yes, it's a big deal ... Japan is now the fifth country to get some kind of spacecraft up on the big ball of cheese in the sky -- landing their "Moon Sniper" explorer Friday ... part of which they streamed live to document the momentous occasion.

The question at this point, however, is whether the explorer crashed onto the moon ... or if it successfully made contact. There are conflicting reports on what the actual case is.

We suppose we'll know soon enough -- but in any case, it's cool to see the human race continue to try and explore our moon. This mission is called SLIM (Smart Lander for Investigating Moon) and this launch of Japan's robot went down way back in September.

The other countries that have been to the moon ... Russia, China, India and, of course, the US of A. We're the only ones to get humans up there ... no one's been back since.