This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Necessary'. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Other. The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Functional'. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category 'Analytics'. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. That mission, which is also part of NASA’s CLPS program, will also serve as the inaugural flight of United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket sometime in 2021. It’ll be the second outing for Astrobotic, who’s smaller Peregrine lunar lander is slated to be the first commercial lunar lander in history to touch down on the Moon as well as the first American lander to touch down since Apollo 17 in 1972. Work on the Griffin lunar lander is in progress with qualification testing planned to be completed toward the end of this year. “Gaining a better learning of resources on the Moon is critical to advancing humanity’s reach beyond Earth, and we are honored to support this exciting mission and NASA’s CLPS program,” said SpaceX Senior Director of Commercial Sales Stephanie Bednarek in the Astrobotic press release.Īll future Falcon Heavy launches are slated to leave from Kennedy Space Center’s iconic Launch Complex 39A in Florida, which has supported all crewed NASA flight programs and Apollo Moon missions to date, a fitting continuation of the launch site’s prodigious legacy of Moon missions. With this growing manifest, Falcon Heavy is emerging as a key player in NASA’s efforts to establish a long-term human presence on the moon. June 2022 should see the vehicle launch NASA’s Psyche Asteroid mission, followed by the VIPER rover mission to the moon in 2023 and then the first two components of NASA’s Lunar Gateway outpost in 2024. Space Force on mission USSF-44, is slated for July 2021, followed by another Space Force mission, USSF-52, in October 2021.įalcon Heavy will then set its sights on more heavenly bodies between 20. Its next flight is to send up a classified payload, this time for the U.S. Credit: Astroboticįalcon Heavy last launched on the aforementioned Space Test Program 2, or STP-2, mission for the U.S. The mission adds to a sudden boom in the Falcon Heavy manifest after what has been a nearly two-year dry spell for the launch vehicle, the most powerful in operation today.Įngineering mockups of the Griffin lander, left and Peregrine lander. “My first exposure to Falcon Heavy was as a SpaceX mission integrator on the STP-2 mission and I’m proud to be utilizing that same launch vehicle for Griffin.” “Having previously sat on the other side of the table as a former SpaceX mission manager, I am fully aware of SpaceX’s capabilities and processes and am excited to be working with SpaceX on a mission once again,” Gillies said. SpaceX has the team, vehicle, and facilities to make this happen.”īefore joining Astrobotic, Gillies served as a mission manager for SpaceX. “SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy completes our Griffin Mission 1 (GM1) solution by providing a proven launch vehicle to carry us on our trajectory to the Moon. “Getting to the Moon isn’t just about building a spacecraft, but having a complete mission solution,” Daniel Gillies, Griffin Mission 1 director for Astrobotic, said in a company press release. The task order specified that Astrobotic independently choose a launch provider. This award was the largest in the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS, initiative, which procures payload space aboard commercial lunar landers. In June of 2020, Astrobotic had won the NASA task order to deliver the rover to the lunar surface on its Griffin lander at a value of $199.5 million. Astrobotic has selected SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to deliver the lander that will be carrying the rover to the surface of the Moon. An artist’s depiction of NASA’s Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER.

Flacon heavy launch