The first space photo from the US's moon-lander mission is a clear sign something is very wrong

• The US's first lunar lander in decades is in trouble.
• After launching on Monday, Peregrine Mission One started leaking fuel, Astrobotic said.
• The situation is "critical" and may cost the lander its moon shot.

The first US-built lunar lander since the days of Apollo is leaking fuel and putting the entire mission at risk.

The leak is forcing the spacecraft's thrusters to operate beyond capacity to prevent the spacecraft from tumbling out of control.

Peregrine Mission One, a lunar lander built by Astrobotic, started leaking fuel hours after it launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Monday.

"At this time, the goal is to get Peregrine as close to lunar distance as we can before it loses the ability to maintain its sun-pointing position and subsequently loses power," Astrobotic said in an update on X.

On Monday, Astrobotic released the first image from Peregrine in space. You can see the silvery multi-layer insulation in the foreground, which looks as if someone took a hammer to it.

"The disturbance of the MLI is the first visual clue that aligns with our telemetry data pointing to a propulsion system anomaly," the company said.

Now, it's a race against the clock.

Astrobotic estimates that, based on the amount of fuel the spacecraft is gobbling up to keep from tumbling out of control, it can maintain stability for the next 40 hours.

What's on board?

Peregrine Mission One is a nearly 2,900-pound uncrewed lander that carries 20 payloads from seven countries and 16 companies.

The lander wasn't just the first lander built in the US since Grumman built the Apollo Lunar Module, but also the first shot at the moon for several countries.

Astrobotic said in a press release the lander was carrying the first lunar surface payloads for the German and Mexican space agencies and the first lunar payloads from the UK, Hungary, and the Seychelles.

"One payload, DHL MoonBox, contains mementos and messages from over 100,000 individuals around the world," the company said.

The lander took off on a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket early Monday and successfully separated in space. But after powering up, an "anomaly" occurred with Peregrine's propulsion system that kept it from pointing towards the sun, Astrobotic said.

The lander's batteries started to die, so the team had to improvise a maneuver to get the lander's solar panels pointed toward the sun. It worked, but the fuel leak appears to be dire.

"The team is working to try and stabilize this loss" of fuel, Astrobotic said.