ULA aims to launch Astrobotic lunar lander on Christmas Eve

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Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic’s first lunar lander is set to take off on United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket on Christmas Eve, ULA CEO Tory Bruno said.

ULA, a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, has a backup window in January should the rocket fail to take-off in December.

Astrobotic’s Peregrine is launching as part of a $79.5 million NASA contract awarded in 2019 under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.

“We’re going to a part of the moon where they need very carefully controlled lighting conditions and they also have to stay in radio communication with the Deep Space Network,” he explained.

But numerous technical delays to Vulcan – including an incident this March where an upper stage exploded during testing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama – have pushed the timeline back.

This first mission, called Certification-1, is one of two certification flights ULA will need to nail in order to meet the Space Force’s requirements.

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