NASA are set to launch a space shuttle on Christmas Eve that will take the first US lander to the moon in more than half a century.
Preparations have begun at Cape Canaveral in Florida for take off in just a few weeks, with the mission marking a big change for NASA.
The organisation have handed over control to Astrobotic who will handle the spacecraft’s launch and landing.
Peregrine Mission 1, named after the fastest animal on Earth, will launch at 6.50am UK time on a week-long trip to the moon.
It will enter space on the new Vulcan rocket. The mission is the first of the fleet of private spacecraft bound for the moon after NASA launched a new initiative.
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The agency is funding firms to build spacecraft and deliver cargo to various sites on the lunar surface, with the intention of getting equipment to the moon before astronauts land there in a few years.
The Peregrine mission will carry five Nasa payloads to measure radiation, surface and subsurface water, and the thin layer of lunar gas called the exosphere.
But not everyone is a fan of the new initiative, with scientists having other plans for the moon’s surface.
Richard Green, an astronomer at the University of Arizona, told The Guardian: “There are all these legitimate activities on the moon that are completely incompatible with each other.
“Mining is completely incompatible with having an undisturbed scientific site, and similarly if you are landing and taking off, that kicks up a great deal of debris.”
Scientists are hoping to examine the lunar ice and other materials before it is disturbed or polluted.
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