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Launch of the Vulcan Centaur rocket with the Peregrine lunar lander from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in Florida

Photo: Chandan Khanna / AFP

For the first time in more than 50 years, a U.S. spacecraft was scheduled to land on the moon – but the historic private lunar mission was on the verge of failure on Monday. At 02:18 a.m. local time, the new Vulcan Centaur rocket from United Launch Alliance (ULA) lifted off from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida with the Peregrine lunar landing module. But then technical problems arose, the landing module lost fuel.

48 minutes after take-off, there was still reason to cheer in the mission control center: The landing module of the Astrobotic company separated from the launch vehicle without any problems. However, the experts then identified an "anomaly". This prevented the capsule from being correctly aligned with the sun, so that the battery could not be charged on board.

Problem with the propulsion system

The company said the fault was "likely" due to a problem with the propulsion system. Landing on the moon would be difficult in this case. It was possible to tilt the spacecraft in the right direction with an "improvised manoeuvre" so that the battery could be recharged. However, Astrobotic said the failure of the propulsion system caused a serious loss of fuel. The team is working to stabilize the loss. However, the main thing now is to collect as much data as possible. In addition, it is being examined which other mission profiles are conceivable.

Nasa paid around $100 million

The original plan was for Peregrine to touch down on the moon on February 23 – Astrobotic wanted to become the first private company to successfully land on Earth's satellite. NASA has paid the company more than 100 million dollars (about 91 million euros) for it.

"Every success and setback is an opportunity to learn and grow," NASA said. The U.S. space agency will use this lesson in its efforts to "advance the science, exploration and commercial development of the Moon."

Moon landing is a challenge

A moon landing is a big challenge, about half of the attempts fail. So far, only the USA, the Soviet Union, China and India have succeeded in successful moon landings. In September, the Japanese space agency sent the mini-probe Slim on its way, which is scheduled to land on Earth's satellite in mid-January.

The U.S. Peregrine lander has launched with a series of scientific instruments on board designed to study the radiation and composition of the moon's surface, paving the way for astronauts to return. One of them is a radiation measuring device from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), the M-42 radiation detector.

Other cargo includes a shoebox-sized rover, a physical Bitcoin, and the ashes of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, scientist Arthur C. Clarke, and a dog.

The German logistics company DHL also has a few packages on board Peregrine: In specially made capsules, so-called moonboxes, there are souvenirs of people from all over the world, as the company announced. In total, there are 151 moon boxes, which contain, among other things, things like stories written by children and a stone from Mount Everest.

jpa/AFP