Astrobotic bid farewell to its Peregrine lunar lander on Thursday as the spacecraft plunged through Earth’s atmosphere, thereby preventing the failed mission from colliding into other spacecraft.
Update: 2:07 p.m. ET: A fourth update from Astrobotic, issued around 1:00 p.m. ET, is exceptionally discouraging. “Unfortunately, it appears the failure within the propulsion system is causing a critical loss of propellant,” the company noted on X.
Update: January 8, 10:41 a.m. ET: Vulcan Centaur took off right on schedule, successfully blasting off from the Cape Canaveral launch pad and delivering Peregrine on its historic mission to the Moon.
Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander is slated to blast off on Monday, January 8, carrying an assortment of goodies, including cutting-edge scientific rovers, bitcoin, and a piece of Mount Everest. No doubt, this ain’t your grandfather’s Moon mission, as the era of commercial space deliveries is now upon us.