SpaceX Launches Two Lunar Probes as Race to Moon Heats Up
- Firefly’s Blue Ghost aims to attempt landing in about 45 days
- Sharing the rocket is the Hakuto-R probe from Tokyo’s Ispace
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Jan. 15.
Photographer: Gregg Newton/AFP/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
SpaceX launched a pair of commercial satellites carrying lunar rovers as competition intensifies in the private sector’s race to the moon.
The Elon Musk-led company’s Falcon 9 rocket was carrying two probes when it took off early Wednesday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.