As reported by Ukrinform, Space.com.

The Falcon 9 launch vehicle carrying Odysseus was launched from Cape Canaveral Cosmodrome in Florida at 08:05 Kiev time.

If all goes as planned, Odysseus will land near the moon’s south pole as early as February 22, becoming the first private spacecraft in history to land on Earth’s moon.

The success of this mission will also be of great importance for the United States, which has not landed on the lunar surface since NASA’s Apollo 17 mission more than half a century ago.

It was noted that the total weight of the landing module was 675 kg, and its size was comparable to an English telephone booth.

A total of 12 cargoes were placed on Odysseus. Six of these, including the laser reflector and radio devices, belong to NASA.

The instruments are designed to collect data to help NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to establish a manned base near the Moon’s south pole by the end of this decade.

The rest is owned by various private clients.

As reported by Ukrinform, China plans to launch three spacecraft into lunar orbit in the next six months to establish communications between the Earth and the Moon for the next survey missions to the Earth’s natural satellite.

Photo: SpaceX