WATCH: Historic private US Peregrine mission launches, en route to the moon

A private firm is aiming to be the first American mission in over five decades to complete a soft touchdown on the lunar surface.

The United Launch Alliance successfully launched its first Vulcan Centaur rocket into space early on January 8 (at 2:18 am ET), from Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.

Watch the launch here

The Cert-1 flight mission consists of two payloads. The first is the Peregrine Lunar Lander, Peregrine Mission One (PM1) for Pittsburgh-based company Astrobotic as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.

The robotic lander will carry out five scientific instruments for NASA.

These will study the moon’s surface environment ahead of upcoming human missions. The robotic lander aims to become the first private spacecraft ever to touch down softly on the moon.

The Peregrine lander, which separated 52 minutes after its launch, is now en route to the moon.

The second payload is the Celestis Memorial Spaceflights’ deep space Voyager mission known as the ‘Enterprise Flight’. It will carry the human remains and DNA from Star Trek actors and alums into deep space.

More details on the Vulcan Centaur

The 62-metre-Vulcan Centaur consists of two stages, and its thrust can be augmented by up to six strap-on solid rocket boosters.

The rocket’s first stage, driven by two of Blue Origin’s BE-4 engines, was fuelled by liquefied natural gas.

This is a milestone for Blue Origin, which was founded by Jeff Bezos.

The BE-4 is the first-stage engine for the company’s reusable rocket, New Glenn, which is in the development stage.