Two special missions bound for the Moon have lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The lunar landers were launched at midnight from NASAThe Kennedy Space Center and the Kennedy Space Center are the latest to attempt a landing on Earth’s closest neighbor.
US company Firefly Aerospace and Japan’s ispace joined the flight to save money, but separated after an hour and will take different routes.
Elon MuskSpaceX’s subsidiary SpaceX posted photos of the two landers — named Resilience and Blue Ghost — drifting in the dark space.
The powerful Falcon 9 rocket landed back on a drone in the Atlantic Ocean less than nine minutes later.
SpaceX He said Blue Ghost will take about 45 days to reach Mare Crisium on the moon, where it will conduct experiments for NASA.
They include testing a device that could help future lunar astronauts keep abrasive particles off their suits and equipment as the space agency seeks to return humans to the moon.
NASA is paying Firefly $101 million (£82.7 million) for the mission and another $44 million (£36 million) for the experiments.
Meanwhile, the Japanese probe, Resilience, will take a fuel-intensive four to five months to reach an area called Mare Frigoris, meaning “cold sea.”
Hopefully, it will be second time lucky for ispace after the first lander crashed onto the moon’s surface two years ago.
The company’s president, Takeshi Hakamada, pinned an Irish shamrock to his jacket during the launch for good luck.
“We don’t think this is a race,” Hakamada said earlier this week. “Some people say ‘race to the moon,’ but it’s not about speed.”
If successful, iSpace’s small rover will stay close to the lander, moving at less than one inch per second.
The ispace Resilience lander takes a longer route to the moon. Photo: AP
He will also leave behind a special souvenir – a toy-sized red house designed by a Swedish artist.
Both probes are designed to operate for one lunar day, equivalent to 14 Earth days
Only five countries have successfully placed spacecraft on the moon’s surface since the 1960s: the former Soviet Union, America, Japan, India, and China.
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The United States remains the only country to have sent humans to the moon, most recently in 1972, but NASA is trying to repeat the feat by the end of the decade.
Speaking on the eve of the launch, science mission chief Nicky Fox said the spacecraft was “sending a lot of science and a lot of technology early to prepare for this.”
Another lunar mission from Houston-based Intuitive Machines for NASA is scheduled to launch — again on a SpaceX rocket — at the end of February.
Last year, the company was able to successfully place an American lander on the surface of the moon – near the South Pole – for the first time in more than 50 years.
SpaceX’s recent launch marked the first appearance of a rocket from the Amazon founder Jeff BezosIt was a company delayed Earlier this week.
The company is scheduled to try again this Thursday (January 16).