SpaceX rocket launches private missions to the Moon

Two lunar landing modules built by private companies in the United States and Japan left Earth aboard a SpaceX rocket as part of a shared trip to the Moon.

The Falcon 9 took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 01:09 local time (06:09 GMT) on Wednesday, carrying landers belonging to the American Firefly Aerospace and the Japanese ispace.

The landers will eventually separate once they reach the Moon’s orbit and conduct independent explorations.

They are the latest in a growing number of commercial missions to the Moon.

Firefly’s Blue Space rover is expected to take about 45 days to reach the Moon once it separates from the SpaceX rocket.

It will then drill, collect samples and also take X-ray images of Earth’s magnetic field to “advance research for future human missions to the Moon and provide information on how space weather affects the planet,” according to SpaceX.

Meanwhile, ispace’s Resilence lander will take up to five months to reach the Moon’s surface, where it will deploy a rover for exploration and attempt to collect loose surface material known as regolith.

NASA supports this initiative which, if successful, will be its largest commercial shipment to the Moon to date.

Intuitive Machines last year became the first commercial team to put a lander on the Moona feat only previously achieved by the United States, the Soviet Union, China, India and Japan.

On the other hand, SpaceX is also carrying out its seventh orbital flight test of its Starship rocket, which will take off from Texas at 4:00 p.m. local time (22:00 GMT).