Astrobotic’s first vehicle to land on the Moon is ready for launch in early January, and is expected to land on the Moon in late February. The Pittsburgh-based company announced Dec. 19 that it had completed all pre-launch integration activities for the Peregrine lunar lander, which included fueling the lander and pairing it with the payload adapter for United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket. This, along with preparations for the rocket, prompted a launch attempt on January 8 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Astrobotic had hoped to launch Peregrine between December 24-26 this month for a landing attempt on January 25. However, ULA delayed the launch to complete a dress rehearsal that was interrupted by problems with ground systems in early December. On December 14, ULA announced that it had completed dress rehearsals and confirmed a January 8 launch date.

Peregrine carries 20 commercial and government payloads, including five provided by NASA as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Program (CLPS). Non-NASA payloads range from a small lunar rover developed by Carnegie Mellon University and a series of even smaller rovers from the Mexican Space Agency to commemorative and commemorative payloads from companies and organizations.

Five other NASA instruments originally displayed on the Falcon were removed from the lander earlier this year. Chris Culbert, NASA’s CLPS program manager, said at a Nov. 29 briefing that the decision was related to the lander’s performance and available launch engines.

“Rather than further delaying this mission by waiting for additional engine developments, we worked with Astrobotic to arrange delivery of critical payloads as early as possible,” he said. “We mutually agreed that several payloads from the first mission would be demonstrated to give this first mission a better chance of success.” These payloads will be used in future CLPS missions.

“If you follow the lunar industry, you understand that landing on the lunar surface is incredibly difficult. However, our team has consistently exceeded expectations and demonstrated incredible creativity,” Astrobotic CEO John Thornton said in a statement. “We are ready for launch and landing.”

Astrobotic said the launch in the window opening on January 8 will land on February 23. Instead of approaching the lunar surface directly, the spacecraft will enter lunar orbit, lowering the apogee, or high point in its orbit, from 9,000 kilometers to 100 kilometers. “We expect local lighting to be correct most of the time between launch and landing,” Thornton said at the Nov. 29 briefing.

This means that Peregrine may be the first CLPS mission to launch, but not the first to land. Intuitive Machines plans to launch the IM-1 Moon lander mission aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 between January 12-16. This mission will have a more direct approach, landing on the Moon on January 19-21.

While Intuitive Machines said that preparations for IM-1 are continuing, it said that there may be a delay in the launch of the mission. The launch will take place from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A, SpaceX’s only space at Cape Canaveral equipped to provide liquid oxygen and methane fuel to the lander shortly before launch.

However, LC-39A is currently deployed to support the Falcon Heavy launch of the military’s X-37B space plane, whose launch was postponed until December 28 due to problems with the launch vehicle. It takes about three weeks for the Falcon 9 launch pad to be reconfigured, meaning it may not be ready in time to support the IM-1 launch by the end of the launch window in January.