In the coming years, people should be walking around on the moon again. In preparation for this, the United States will send its first commercial lander to the moon on Monday. It is called Peregrine and was developed by the company Astrobotic.
The launch is scheduled for 8:18 a.m. Dutch time from Cape Canaveral, Florida. If all goes well, the craft will arrive on the moon on February 23. Destination is Sinus Viscositatis or Bay of Stickiness, a place on the Moon where traces of water molecules may be found.
The Peregrine was supposed to leave earlier, but during tests there was a problem with the rocket that was supposed to take the lander to the moon.
There are five measuring devices from the American space agency NASA on board the lander. But the mission is mainly intended to practice the flight to the moon and the difficult landing there. The United States hopes companies can help build bases on the moon. For example, they can fly freight. The Peregrine, 2.5 meters wide and almost 2 meters high, can carry a load of 265 kilos.
Failed Japanese attempt
The Peregrine flight is not the first attempt by a commercial space company to land on the moon. Last year, the Japanese company Ispace tried to put a lander on the surface, but failed. The craft crashed on the moon and was lost. Only the United States itself, the Soviet Union, China and India have succeeded in landing landers on the moon.
At the earliest at the end of this year, people will go to the moon and back for the first time without landing there. There are three Americans and a Canadian on board. The last time people went this far from Earth was in December 1972. People may set foot on the moon again at the end of next year. The four crew members of that flight have not yet been announced.
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