America Moon Mission after 50 years Peregrine 1 lunar lander lifts off

The success of India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission has once again encouraged the whole world to turn towards the Moon. The Moon mission of Japanese space agency Jaxa will try to land on the Moon in the next few days. On Monday, America also took steps in this direction. After a long gap of 50 years, the Peregrine 1 lunar lander of the American space agency NASA left for the moon. United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket took off with this lander.

According to information shared on social media platform X, everything went as per plan. In its very first launch, Vulcan’s second stage booster reached orbit about 15 minutes after entering deep space.

It is currently estimated that the Peregrine lunar lander will land on the mid-latitude region of the Moon on February 23. This area is called sinus viscositis or the bay of stickiness. This mission becomes important because after about 50 years an American mission is going to land on the moon.

America had launched Artemis-1 mission to the moon in the year 2022. But that spacecraft did not land on the moon. Artemis-1 had orbited the moon. NASA is going to launch Artemis-2 mission in the year 2024. Astronauts will be sent to the moon under the Artemis-2 mission. However, instead of landing on the moon, they will return after circling it.

Landing on the Moon is no easy task. Only selected countries including America, Russia and India have been able to land missions on the Moon. America is the only country to send humans to the moon. He had also done this feat 50 years ago. Since then, America’s programs on the moon have been limited.

Why is Peregrine 1 lunar lander important?

The Peregrine 1 lunar lander is a commercial venture developed by space robotics firm Astrobotic. If the mission is successful, it will be the first landing of a private company on the moon. Apart from this, this will also be America’s first soft landing after the Apollo 1972 mission.