‘Fly me to the Moon, and Let me Play Among the many Stars…’
Whereas Planet Earth is teeming with geopolitical exercise, three totally different teams of women and men are engaged in an Odyssey that’s to take their spacecrafts to the floor of the Moon.
It’s undoubtedly an enormous second within the human race’s spaceflight saga.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket was launched on Thursday (Feb. 27), carrying Intuitive Machines’ ‘Athena’ spacecraft, so now there are three totally different non-public lunar landers at the moment on their solution to the moon.
It’s an unprecedented surge in exploration, with the three missions operated by non-public corporations.
Area reported:
“’Athena becoming a member of a historic wave of lunar landers on their solution to the moon is a unprecedented second’, Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus stated in a press release this morning (Feb. 28).
‘Whereas essentially the most important a part of this mission lies forward, we imagine this can be a sign that lunar providers are quickly advancing alongside civil and business intent to ascertain a foothold on the moon to achieve additional into the photo voltaic system’, he added.”
Intuitive Machines has launched the primary photos of Earth taken by the Athena probe! ✨
The pictures seize the spacecraft in opposition to our planet, marking a profitable begin to the mission.
A brand new step in house exploration! #Athena #Area #NASA pic.twitter.com/XD4Yw3p6fY— Jacob Martinez (@CristobaSb) February 28, 2025
There are different two non-public landers heading for the moon’s floor — Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost and Japan’s Resilience, constructed by ispace. They have been each launched atop the identical SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Jan. 15.
“Blue Ghost, like Athena, is flying underneath the flag of NASA’s Business Lunar Payload Companies program, which places company science gear on non-public robotic landers. The aim is to assemble information that can assist pave the way in which for NASA’s Artemis astronauts, who’re scheduled to the touch down close to the moon’s south pole just a few years from every now and then set up a number of bases within the water-rich area over the following years.
Blue Ghost and its 10 NASA payloads have been circling the moon for 2 weeks and are scheduled to land within the Mare Crisium (“Sea of Crises”) area of the lunar close to aspect early Sunday morning (March 2).”
Japanese Resilience is taking a circuitous route and is barely anticipated to achieve lunar orbit in late Could or early June.
“To this point, only one non-public spacecraft has ever landed efficiently on the moon — Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus, which did so in February 2024. Others have come shut; for instance, ispace’s first lander reached lunar orbit in March 2023 however crashed throughout its landing try a month later. (Resilience is the Japanese firm’s second moon lander.)”
The Moon is so shut, we will style it!
New footage from @Firefly_Space reveals their lunar lander’s view from 60 miles (100 km) above the Moon. Blue Ghost will land at Mare Crisium, on the close to aspect of the Moon, on March 2, no sooner than 3:34am ET (0834 UTC). pic.twitter.com/EBZyXHEerL
— NASA Artemis (@NASAArtemis) February 26, 2025
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