Jan. 14 (UPI) — SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a pair of lunar landers into space early Wednesday, sending Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost and ispace’s Resilience on their lengthy journeys to the moon.
The rocket launched at 1:11 a.m. EST Wednesday from Launch Complex 39A at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, marking the 100th launch of a Falcon rocket from that particular platform, according to SpaceX.
“Blue Ghost is on its way to orbit!” Firefly Aerospace celebrated in a statement following the launch. “Go Ghost Riders in the sky!”
Minutes after the launch, the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster, on its fifth flight, successfully returned to Earth where it landed upon the Just Read the Instructions droneship that had been stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.
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The launch is the first mission for the Blue Ghost lander and the second attempt for the Resilience lander.
Tokyo-based ispace is also sending its Tenacious micro rover to the moon inside the Resilience lunar lander.
The Blue Ghost mission is dubbed “Ghost Riders in the Sky” and will carry 10 technology and science payloads to the moon’s surface for NASA.
The Blue Ghost is to land on the moon in early March, after completing its 45-day journey through space, with the 350-mile-wide Mare Crisium crater as its intended landing area.
The Resilience lander will spend between four and five months traveling to the moon before making a soft landing at an undisclosed location to deploy the Tenacious micro rover.
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The Resilience lander also will carry commercial payloads that include water electrolyzer equipment, a food-production experiment, a deep space radiation probe and a commemorative ally plate developed by the Bandai Namco Research Institute.
The Tenacious micro rover will carry a “Moonhouse” model home created by Swedish artist Mikael Genberg and mounted on the rover.
The micro rover will collect rock and dust samples from the moon’s surface.
The moon mission is the second for ispace after its first attempt to send a lander to the moon failed in 2022.
It is also SpaceX’s first launch to a lunar surface and the first of several that a Falcon rocket will launch for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Paylor services program this year, the Elon Musk-owned company said in a statement.
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