It’s their first ever attempt to launch a Vulcan, and their launching an lunar lander. Window opens at 1:53 AM EST. Here’s to hoping for a successful launch.
Edit:
Liftoff at 47:40.
We saw a successful launch, translunar injection, and the Peregrine lander successfully powered on before detaching from the Centaur upper stage, which proceeded to relight its engines and complete a burn into a solar orbit at part of its memorial mission.
The lunar landing attempt is expected to be on Feb 23, and it is expected to remain operational on the surface of the moon for at least ten days.
According to NASA, “-Scientific instruments will study the lunar exosphere, thermal properties of the lunar regolith, hydrogen abundances in the soil at the landing site, magnetic fields, and conduct radiation environment monitoring.”
More on Vulcan and its history.
We’ll see if ULA actually gets sold now that Vulcan finally flew and LM and Boeing want out.
It still doesn’t make any sense to me for Blue Origin to buy them.
I know, given the relevant track records and experience of the two companies, one would think that it would be ULA buying out their first stage engine manufacturer, not getting bought out.