This morning it will happen, if nothing goes wrong: From Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida, the United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur rocket will be launched, carrying the moon lander Peregrine. This will be their maiden flight, which is supposed to usher in a new era of cargo transit between Earth and the Moon. Claude helped us tell a little about the event.
The launch will be broadcast live by the US space agency (NASA), which initiated this launch project and most of the cargo on the lander comes from it. The broadcast will begin at 8:30 Israel time, and the launch is scheduled to happen at 9:17, right here:
As mentioned, this flight is the first launch of the new and powerful Vulcan rocket, which is supposed to replace this year the veteran launch missiles of ULA, Atlas V and Delta IV, which were the last two versions of the disposable missiles that brought the US into space in the 60s. The Vulcan Centaur itself is not reusable, unlike the SpaceX and Blue Origin rockets, but its main engines disconnect from it after launch and are caught in the air by a helicopter – at least that's the plan for the future.
A successful launch would open the commercialization of flights to the moon, with payloads planned for human bases. However, most of the lander's payload that is supposed to get there on this launch is scientific experiments by NASA and similar bodies around the world. Along with them are two cargoes of human ash, which have already aroused fierce opposition from Native American tribes. If Peregrine manages to land safely, it will reap the title that Israel's Beresheet tried to reap in 2019, but failed after crashing on the lunar surface.
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