SpaceX conducted a lunar-oriented launch early this morning, after it launched the lunar lander of Japanese company ispace Inc from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, this launch was SpaceX’s second lunar-oriented launch this year and the first completed lunar lander launch. It also makes the company one of the first U.S. companies to launch a lunar lander.
ispace’s Hakuto-R lander launched at 2:38 a.m. EDT aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, with the first-stage rocket successfully separating from the second-stage booster, and the soft landing was successfully recovered on land shortly thereafter.
Today’s launch comes just days after Falcon 9 launched 40 satellites for British company OneWeb on Thursday – the launch itself provided the best visual of the rocket in the night sky this year. Due to the timing, Falcon 9 lifted off at sunset, and spectacular coverage from ground tracking cameras showed the different phases of the launch in detail, such as stage separation, boost backfire, reaction control thrust launch and another landing.
Hakuo-R was launched at night, and the best view of the event was the boost backburn of the Falcon 9’s first stage. Immediately after it separated from the second stage, the rocket changed its orientation and ignited its engines to ensure it would not crash into the second stage.
The launch took place at night, and the re-ignition flames produced a distinct plume that lit up the scene, contrasting with the dark sky in the background. This was a complete departure from previous launches, as the surrounding light also made the rocket clearly visible.
The launch makes SpaceX one of the few companies in the industry to have launched a lunar payload this year, and the only one to have done so twice. The previous lunar mission was for the Korean Space Agency, which launched a lunar orbiter in August. In addition, SpaceX conducted a lunar mission this year with RocketLab, which launched the CAPSTONE satellite for NASA in June. CAPSTONE is part of NASA’s Artemis program, as it will allow the space agency to study different orbits for the planned Gateway space station. This space station will serve as a docking point for future astronauts as they travel to the station in NASA’s Orion spacecraft and then transfer to SpaceX’s Starship for a lunar landing.
Starship is scheduled for an orbital test flight soon, and from the looks of things, that critical test will take place next year, and if successful, the rocket will be one of the largest in the world. Starship will also send a private crew team to lunar orbit (eight artists have been selected so far) as part of Japanese billionaire Tomosaku Maezawa’s hardcore creation on Earth. SpaceX has recently accelerated the pace of Starship development as it has begun testing multiple engines for full duration, slowly building up to full-system static ignition.
Today’s landing marks SpaceX’s 155th rocket booster landing recovery, and the company will also reuse its fairing.
