A Japanese venture firm says it will target landing its spacecraft on the moon, as early as April 26. If successful, it will become the first-ever privately funded lunar lander to accomplish the feat.

The lunar lander was developed by Tokyo-based start-up ispace. It lifted off in December from Florida on a rocket of US firm SpaceX.

The spacecraft has been continuing its flight, using energy-saving methods including the sun's gravity, and entered into an elliptical orbit of the moon in March.

The venture firm said at a news conference on Wednesday that the lander will be put into orbit at an altitude of about 100 kilometers from the moon. It says it aims to land the spacecraft on April 26, Japan time, at the earliest.

The lander is carrying a small robot rover which will conduct probes by moving around on the moon surface. The vehicle was developed by entities including JAXA, Japan's space agency.

No privately funded spacecraft has yet landed on the moon. As a national project, the former Soviet Union carried out a successful moon landing in 1966. The United States did it in the same year. China followed them in 2013.

Hakamada Takeshi, ispace's CEO, said he thinks the spacecraft will land without trouble, because his staff have done their utmost for the project.

Hakamada added that he wants to accomplish the mission so many people can feel that commercial activity on the moon is becoming a reality.