Two U.S. companies are vying to be the world’s first private company to land on the moon, both launching unmanned spacecraft in the first quarter of next year.
According to a report by the Washington Post on Sunday (24th) local time, with funding from NASA, two American companies plan to launch an unmanned spacecraft to the moon within a few weeks early next year. This marks the first time in 52 years since the last Apollo mission in 1972 that the United States has achieved a soft landing on the lunar surface.
The two companies are Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines. Naijatechnews’s plan to sort out the two companies is as follows:
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Space robot: It is planned to launch the “Peregrine” lunar lander on January 8, local time , carried by the “Vulcan” rocket jointly developed by Lockheed Martin and Boeing. This is also the first show of this rocket.
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Intuitive Machine: The lander is planned to be launched in mid-February local time , carried by SpaceX’s “Falcon 9” rocket.
The missions are reportedly linked to NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to send astronauts to the lunar surface. Both companies have already participated in NASA’s “Commercial Lunar Payload Services” project and started delivering cargo and experimental equipment to the moon five years ago .
It’s unclear who landed earlier. Aerospace Robotics disclosed in a press release that if the launch can be held as scheduled on January 8, the spacecraft will land on February 23 . “Intuition Machine” said that the company’s lander is expected to land in February, a week after launch . Its original launch date was January 12, but due to unfavorable weather conditions, SpaceX’s launch manifest changed, and it was postponed to mid-February.
Therefore, it is still unknown who will be the first private company to land on the moon.
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