A rocket carrying the United States’ first lunar lander in over 50 years blasted off from Florida early Monday.
United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan rocket launched from Cape Canaveral at 2:18 Eastern Time, beginning a journey to the moon expected to culminate with a landing attempt on Feb. 23. It would be the first time an American spacecraft has made a soft landing on the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.
If Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine makes it safely to the lunar surface, the feat will also be the first time in history that a private company has successfully landed on the moon.
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There was a brief hiccup after launch, which “prevented Astrobotic from achieving a stable sun-pointing orientation,” Astrobotic Technology said in a statement on Monday morning. That issue was righted by 12:34 p.m., however, with the company announcing it’d “successfully re-established communications with Peregrine after the known communication blackout.”
“The team’s improvised maneuver was successful in reorienting Peregrine’s solar array towards the sun,” a statement said.
A sun-facing position is needed to continue to power a spacecraft’s batteries using solar energy.
ULA is a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin. “Yee-haw, I am so thrilled,” ULA CEO Tory Bruno said in the company’s launch control room, according to Reuters. “This has been years of hard work. So far this has been an absolutely beautiful mission.”
Astrobotic’s main customer for the mission is NASA, which paid the Pittsburgh company $108 million to deliver scientific experiments on the moon. The research is part of the space agency’s preparations for its Artemis program, which aims to put astronauts back on the moon in the coming years.
Vulcan is also carrying cargo from Celestis, a company that delivers people’s ashes or DNA into space. Among those whose remains are onboard are Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke, as well as hair samples from U.S. presidents John F. Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, and George Washington.
