LIVE: SpaceX to Launch ispace Moon Lander • Hakuto-R Mission 1 & CubeSat - YouTube

A SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket will launch the iSpace Mission 1 to the Moon. The first lunar lander, called Hakuto-R Mission 1 (M1), was assembled in partnership with ArianeGroup and carries a package of international and commercial payloads for firms in Japan and Canada, including two small lunar rovers from the UAE-based Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre and the Japanese Space Agency JAXA. The lander itself was built at ArianeGroup GmbH’s facility in Lampoldshausen, Germany, and is 2.3 meters tall, 2.6 meters wide, and has a dry mass of 340kg and 1 tonne fully fueled. The mission will target a landing in Atlas crater on the southeastern outer edge of Mare Frigoris. M1 will make a four-month journey that uses the gravitational pull of Earth and the Sun to guide it to the Moon. This requires less propellant than taking a direct route, meaning that M1 can carry a heavier payload. As secondary payload the Lunar Flashlight CubeSat mission will enter a highly elliptical lunar orbit which will have it pass approx