Page 2 - Lunar Payload Services Program News Today

"We do not expect every launch and landing to be successful."

The mission will be a first for both ULA’s Vulcan rocket as well as Astrobotic’s lunar lander, Peregrine. Liftoff is set for Monday, Jan. 8 at 2:18 am EST (0718 UTC).

India's Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander is a step closer to landing on the moon after separating Aug. 17 from the propulsion module that carried the mission to lunar orbit.

Indias Chandrayaan-3 lunar lander is a step closer to landing on the moon after separating Aug. 17 from the propulsion module that carried it to lunar orbit.

The latest space race is between Russia and India, though it's possible — even likely — neither nation will win the title of first to land at the shadowy lunar south pole.

Russia just launched its first mission to the moon in close to 50 years, firing up a new mini space race this August amid broad and growing international competition. The Soviet Union, which collapsed in 1991, was the first nation to land a robotic spacecraft on the moon and it sent many afterward. But the launch Friday from Kazakhstan is the first lunar mission for Russia in the post-Soviet era. The mission makes a bold geopolitical statement: Though it was originally intended as a partnership,...

Luna 25 will attempt to land on the Moon the same week as India's Chandrayaan 3 probe.

The Chandrayaan-3 mission's big challenge will be sticking a lunar landing, something the Indian space agency has yet to achieve. The mission follows India's Chandrayaan-2, which ended abruptly when the spacecraft crashed.

Check out these NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter images of ispace's crash site on the moon near the Atlas Crater, where the Hakuto-R mission came to an abrupt end in April.

A Japanese company appears to have failed at its attempt to land a robotic spacecraft on the moon on April 25, 2023.