Launch News Lunar lander double bill 15th Jan.

[BrianJ]

I wasn't even aware of this launch until a couple of days ago.

From Spaceflight Now:

NET January 15 Falcon 9 • ‘Ghost Riders in the Sky’

Launch time: 1:11 a.m. EST (0611 UTC)
Launch site: Launch Complex 39A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch a pair of lunar landers to begin independent journeys to the Moon. The primary payload is Firefly Aerospace’s
Blue Ghost lunar lander. It will carry 10 science payloads from NASA as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The ‘Ghost Riders in the Sky’ mission will target a landing at Mare Crisium, near Mons Latreille, in early March. Japan-based ispace’s Resilience lander will also travel to the Moon as a secondary payload on the Falcon 9 rocket. It will take between four and five months before making its landing attempt near the center of Mare Frigoris. It too caries a number of payloads, including the Tenacious micro rover.

Blue Ghost - Firefly Aerospace

Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander is flying annual missions to the Moon with end-to-end cislunar services.

fireflyspace.com

About HAKUTO-R – HAKUTO-R | 民間月面探査プログラム：日本初の独自開発ランダー・ローバーによる月面着陸と月面探査

HAKUTO-Rは、ispaceが2023年までに行う２回の月探査ミッションを統括するプログラムです。 独自のランダーとローバーを開発して、2022年に月面着陸と2023年に月面探査の2回のミッションを行います。SpaceXのFalcon9を使用し、それぞれ2022年、2023年に打ち上げを行う予定です。

hakuto.r.ispace-inc.com

Cheers,
BrianJ

 

[gamer19]

I wasn't even aware of this launch until a couple of days ago.

same here.
almost feel like they keep it as a secret
hence the name

anyway, looking forward
when put 'Moon' and 'exploring' together I'm always in

 

[GLS]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1891642468229148891

 

[GLS]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1891865085380796662

 

[GLS]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1894833374247698921

Triple bill now:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1893041722747175100

https://twitter.com/x/status/1894905624326029791

 

[GLS]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1895101633287053345

 

[GLS]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1895935482497765449

https://twitter.com/x/status/1895973397802217558

https://twitter.com/x/status/1896030132944716061

Live stream

 

[emin2004]

Blue Ghost Lunar Lander landed successfully at Mare Crisium

and we have the first image from the Lunar Lander!

 

[GLS]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1896123720198180870

https://twitter.com/x/status/1896158394295390367

https://twitter.com/x/status/1896146451614568851

 

[GLS]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1896675580059263263

 

[BrianJ]

Triple bill now:

Quadruple if you count Lunar Trailblazer (apparently now having problems).
Lot of stuff going on at the Moon right now!

IM-2 is an interesting launch:
Lunar lander going direct carrying a drill, a "hopper" and a mini-rover
Lunar orbiter going via Lagrange/WSB trajectory
Prospecting mini-sat going to an asteroid via lunar flyby (also reported as in trouble)
....and some kind of minisat deployment demo vessel...

Cheers,
Brian

 

[GLS]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1896980472304910772

 

[GLS]

Next one one the runway

https://twitter.com/x/status/1897655380781432875

 

[GLS]

Live stream for the latest landing:

 

[GLS]

5kms up....

 

[GLS]

60s left in braking....

 

[GLS]

(confusion)
Usually not good...

 

[GLS]

They should be down, but the engine is still working... altitude seems to be increasing....

 

[GLS]

Engine is still running, so it must be upright....

 

[GLS]

... and engine shutdown now.
"Forcing" the surface ops mode...