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SpaceX is set to launch two commercial moon landers in the early hours of Wednesday (Jan. 15), and you can watch the event live.
A Falcon 9 rocket, which carries the robotic Blue Ghost and Resilience landers — constructed by Firefly Aerospace and Tokyo’s ispace, respectively — is planned to take off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:11 a.m. EST (0611 GMT) on Wednesday.
SpaceX and NASA will broadcast the launch, and Space.com will display the agency’s feed if it becomes available. Coverage from NASA will commence at 12:30 a.m. EST (0530 GMT).
The launch on Wednesday morning will initiate Firefly’s inaugural moon mission, which the Texas-based firm has termed Ghost Riders in the Sky. This flight is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative; Blue Ghost is set to deliver 10 scientific payloads to the moon’s surface for the agency.
The mission blueprint includes Blue Ghost orbiting Earth for 25 days before heading towards the moon. The lander is expected to spend 16 days in transit and four days orbiting the moon prior to attempting a landing in Mare Crisium (“Sea of Crises”). Blue Ghost will perform operations on the surface for two weeks until darkness envelops its landing site, bringing the solar-powered mission to a conclusion.
Related: SpaceX will dispatch 2 private lunar landers this week, initiating a bustling year for lunar missions
Resilience will be the second lander ispace has dispatched to the moon. The first one successfully entered lunar orbit in March 2023 but encountered failure during its landing attempt a month later due to confusion experienced by its altitude sensor caused by the edge of a crater.
Resilience will adopt a more leisurely approach to the moon compared to Blue Ghost; the Japanese lander is anticipated to attempt a landing in the Mare Frigoris (“Sea of Cold”) area approximately four to five months post-launch. Among its payloads is a microrover named Tenacious, which aims to gather a sample of lunar soil and rock as part of a contract with NASA.
The launch of two moon missions isn’t the only event SpaceX has planned for Wednesday; the company also intends to execute the seventh test flight of its Starship vehicle, which is the largest and most potent rocket ever constructed.
This liftoff is scheduled for Wednesday at 5:00 p.m. EST (2200 GMT). You can view it live here at Space.com, or directly through SpaceX.
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