Japan's space agency has announced that the country's first lunar lander has successfully been inserted into lunar orbit.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said the unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, was posted on a planned lunar orbit around 4:50 p.m. Japan time on Monday. It added the spacecraft is currently in normal condition.

The agency says a landing on the lunar surface is scheduled for around 0:20 a.m. on January 20, in line with plans.

If SLIM successfully lands on the moon, Japan will be the fifth country to achieve the feat, after the former Soviet Union, the United States, China, and India, which joined the club this year.

SLIM is capable of landing on the target within a margin of error of 100 meters -- which is more than ten times the landing accuracy of lunar probes sent by the other four countries.