Astrobotic Technology on Tuesday confirmed there was “no chance” its lunar lander would be able to land successfully on the Moon, marking the end of a mission that was to have brought the US back to the lunar surface for the first time in 50 years.
The Pittsburgh-based space company, which had hoped to be the first commercial mission to the Moon, said the spacecraft had roughly 40 hours of life left after it encountered technical difficulties in the aftermath of a launch from Florida’s Cape Canaveral on Monday.
Roughly seven hours after a flawless lift off on the Vulcan Centaur rocket, the Peregrine lander suffered a propulsion failure and “critical” leak of propellant, which meant it would not make the 384,400 km journey to the moon.
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