VIDEO: this is how Space X's Falcon 9 took off
The U.S. company Firefly Aerospace, with its Blue Ghost module, and the Japanese firm ispace, with the Resilience, aim to replicate the success of Intuitive Machines, which last year became the first private company to achieve a lunar landing.
SpaceX's Falcon 9
A Space X Falcon 9 rocket lifted off Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida with two lunar lander modules built by private companies from the United States and Japan. The event was shown in a live broadcast.
The Falcon 9 rocket successfully lifted off at 01H11 local time (06H11 GMT) in a further sign of the growing importance of the private sector in space exploration. The transmission was broadcast by entrepreneur Elon Musk, owner of Space X.
U.S.-based Firely Aerospace, with its Blue Ghost module, Japanese firm ispace, with Resilience, aim to emulate the success of Intuitive Machines, which last year became the first private firm to achieve a lunar landing.
Previously, soft lunar landings, AFP recalls, were achieved only by a handful of national space agencies.
Currently, several U.S. start-up companies are attempting to replicate this achievement under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) experimental program.
This will be the first attempt by Firefly Aerospace and the second by ispace, whose aircraft failed a soft landing in 2023.
The two spacecraft have different schedules for reaching the Moon: Blue Ghost estimates completing its journey in 45 days, while Resilience will take between four to five months to reach its destination at Mare Frigoris, the far northern tip of the satellite.
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