TOKYO:- A Japanese start-up is to send spacecraft to the moon in a deal signed with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, the Tokyo-based firm said Wednesday. Private lunar exploration company ispace said it would blast a lander and rovers towards the moon on a SpaceX rocket on two separate missions. The spaceware will first orbit the moon in mid-2020, followed by a moon landing attempt set for mid-2021. It comes a week after SpaceX confirmed Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa will be the first man to fly around the moon on a SpaceX rocket as early as 2023.