First U.S. Moonshot in Decades Will Fall Short

This week’s moon mission won’t be the last in 2024 for NASA…or Astrobotic, the company behind Monday’s launch.

Thursday, January 11, 2024 at 11:31 AM ET

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United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur V rocket, carrying Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander, takes off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Monday morning. [Courtesy: Astrobotic]

Key Takeaways:

Astrobotic's Peregrine lander, the first American private moon landing attempt in 50 years, will not achieve a soft lunar landing due to a critical propulsion system anomaly and propellant loss.
Despite the landing failure, the spacecraft is still flying, and many of its payloads are communicating and powering up, providing valuable data and operational experience for future missions.
This mission is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which views such attempts as high-risk "shots on goal" to learn and develop a commercial lunar economy, with several other private missions planned for 2024.

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The first American spacecraft to attempt a moon landing since Apollo 17 half a century ago will not reach the lunar surface, according to the company that built it.

Peregrine Mission One, an expedition to the moon as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, lifted off Monday morning and appeared to be progressing as planned. But a few hours into the spaceflight, Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, whose Peregrine lander was destined for the lunar surface, released a series of updates on X (formerly Twitter) that cast doubt on the mission’s aims.