At 2:18 a.m. EST, United Launch Alliance launched its Vulcan rocket and Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
Onboard Peregrine are a suite of NASA scientific instruments and commercial payloads to the Moon as part of the agency’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis program. The payloads onboard the lander aim to help the agency develop capabilities needed to explore the Moon under Artemis and in advance of human missions on the lunar surface.
The next major milestone for Peregrine will be separation from Vulcan, which is expected to occur in approximately 50 minutes or around 3:09 a.m. EST. Following this, Peregrine will power on, commencing its journey to the lunar surface.
