Slim probe landed metres rather than kilometres from its target, but a rocket malfunction has left it in an undignified position

A Japanese spacecraft made a historic “pinpoint” landing on the surface of the moon at the weekend, the country’s space agency has said, but there is a slight snag: the images being sent back suggest the probe is lying upside-down.

Japan became only the fifth country to put a craft on the lunar surface – after the US, the Soviet Union, China and India – when its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) touched down in the early hours of Saturday.