First US lunar lander in five decades blasts off on private mission
Published: 03:01 PM,Jan 08,2024 | EDITED : 07:01 PM,Jan 08,2024
The brand new rocket, United Launch Alliance's (ULA) Vulcan Centaur, lifts off from Space Launch Complex 41d at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida. — AFP
CAPE CANAVERAL: The first American spacecraft to attempt to land on the Moon in more than half a century successfully launched early Monday, with private industry leading the charge.
A brand new rocket, United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur, lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 2:18 am for its maiden voyage, carrying Astrobotic's Peregrine Lunar Lander.
Mission control staff cheered and applauded as the lander separated from the rocket around 48 minutes later without problems.
ULA's president and CEO Tony Bruno praised the launch on NASA's livestream.
'I am so thrilled,' he said. 'This has been years of hard work. So far this has been an absolutely beautiful mission back to the Moon.'
Eric Monda, ULA's strategic planning director, described the launch as 'spot on.' 'It was so cool. I ran outside to watch,' he said.
If all goes to plan, Peregrine will touch down on a mid-latitude region of the Moon called Sinus Viscositatis, or Bay of Stickiness, on February 23.
Until now, a soft landing on Earth's nearest celestial neighbor has only been accomplished by a handful of national space agencies: the Soviet Union was first, in 1966, followed by the United States, which is still the only country to put people on the Moon.
Now, the United States is turning to the commercial sector to stimulate a broader lunar economy and ship its own hardware at a fraction of the cost, under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
'Leading America back to the surface of the Moon for the first time since Apollo is a momentous honor,' Astrobotic's CEO John Thornton had said ahead of the launch.
NASA paid Astrobotic more than $100 million for the task, while another contracted company, Houston-based Intuitive Machines, is looking to launch in February and land near the Moon's south pole.
'We think that it's going to allow... more cost effective and more rapidly accomplished trips to the lunar surface to prepare for Artemis,' said Joel Kearns, the US space agency's deputy associate administrator for exploration.
ULA's new rocket is planned to have reusable first stage booster engines, which the company, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, expects will help save costs.
On board Peregrine is a suite of scientific instruments that will probe radiation and surface composition, helping to pave the way for the return of astronauts. — AFP
A brand new rocket, United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur, lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 2:18 am for its maiden voyage, carrying Astrobotic's Peregrine Lunar Lander.
Mission control staff cheered and applauded as the lander separated from the rocket around 48 minutes later without problems.
ULA's president and CEO Tony Bruno praised the launch on NASA's livestream.
'I am so thrilled,' he said. 'This has been years of hard work. So far this has been an absolutely beautiful mission back to the Moon.'
Eric Monda, ULA's strategic planning director, described the launch as 'spot on.' 'It was so cool. I ran outside to watch,' he said.
If all goes to plan, Peregrine will touch down on a mid-latitude region of the Moon called Sinus Viscositatis, or Bay of Stickiness, on February 23.
Until now, a soft landing on Earth's nearest celestial neighbor has only been accomplished by a handful of national space agencies: the Soviet Union was first, in 1966, followed by the United States, which is still the only country to put people on the Moon.
Now, the United States is turning to the commercial sector to stimulate a broader lunar economy and ship its own hardware at a fraction of the cost, under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
'Leading America back to the surface of the Moon for the first time since Apollo is a momentous honor,' Astrobotic's CEO John Thornton had said ahead of the launch.
NASA paid Astrobotic more than $100 million for the task, while another contracted company, Houston-based Intuitive Machines, is looking to launch in February and land near the Moon's south pole.
'We think that it's going to allow... more cost effective and more rapidly accomplished trips to the lunar surface to prepare for Artemis,' said Joel Kearns, the US space agency's deputy associate administrator for exploration.
ULA's new rocket is planned to have reusable first stage booster engines, which the company, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, expects will help save costs.
On board Peregrine is a suite of scientific instruments that will probe radiation and surface composition, helping to pave the way for the return of astronauts. — AFP