TOKYO, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Japanese space exploration

company ispace will launch its second moon landing

mission as early as in December, chief executive Takeshi

Hakamada said on Thursday.

The "Hakuto-R Mission 2" will see ispace's spacecraft

delivered by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida and will

attempt a lunar touchdown after four to five months of

spaceflight, Hakamada said.

"I'm excited that our re-attempt to the moon is

approaching," he told a press conference. The second mission

would follow ispace's first touchdown attempt in April 2023,

which failed in the final moments due to altitude

miscalculation.

The Tokyo-based startup aims to follow the success of

U.S.-based Intuitive Machines ( LUNR ), which in February made

the world's first private moon landing.

Hakamada founded ispace in 2010. The company now employs

about 300 people in Japan, the United States and Luxembourg.

The moon is an emerging frontier in countries' race to find

water, fuel and other resources that would sustain human life,

among other goals. National missions of India, Japan and China

have landed on the lunar surface since last year.

The U.S. plans its first astronaut lunar landing in half a

century in 2026 as part of its Artemis program.