The United States launched the first-ever private module to the Moon.
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The Vulcan Centaur launch vehicle, carrying the Peregrine lunar lander, was launched from Cape Canaveral.
This is the first launch of a lander in US space exploration history in more than 50 years.
Developed by Astrobotic Technology, the lander, if successfully landed on the lunar surface, will be the first spacecraft in history created by a private company to achieve this goal.
Peregrine can be called a small-sized lunar “truck”, capable of carrying up to 90 kilograms of load. On board the module there are about 20 cargoes – NASA scientific instruments, capsules with the ashes of the creator of the Star Trek series and several actors of the series, a stone from Everest, DNA from a goat and an Arctic tern, blood samples from 33 artists, hundreds of images, musical works , ocean water, a plate – a symbol of Bitcoin, as well as a metal version of the flag and a map of Ukraine.
Peregrine is scheduled to land on the surface of the Earth’s satellite on February 23.
It will carry cargo to the Moon, including scientific instruments for NASA, a rock from Mount Everest, as well as the ashes of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke.
A few hours after launch, an “emergency situation” arose with the module, Astrobotic reported.
An anomaly occurred that prevented Astrobotic from achieving a stable orientation to the sun, the company said, adding that the problem could prevent the module from “soft landing” on the lunar surface.
Source: Racurs
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