There won't be a need for a Christmas Miracle for Astrobotic Technology Inc. this year, which until Monday was expecting to have its Peregrine Lunar Lander take off onboard a Vulcan Centaur rocket from United Launch Alliance on Christmas Eve.
But in a social media post, ULA President and CEO Tory Bruno said results from a wet dress rehearsal (WDR) during a testing run have called for the rocket's eventual launch to be postponed until early next year, which is now looking to take place during the morning of Jan. 8, 2024.
"Vehicle performed well," Bruno said in the post. "Ground system had a couple of (routine) issues, (being corrected). Ran the timeline long so we didn't quite finish. I'd like a FULL WDR before our first flight, so XMAS eve is likely out. Next Peregrine window is 8 Jan."
Upon its arrival in space, the North Side-based space company's Peregrine lander will be ejected from the ULA rocket so that it can make its month-long journey to the moon, of which there are only certain days in any given month where such a maneuver is possible to perform per Peregrine's specifications.
When reached for additional comment via email, Astrobotic Director of Marketing and Communications Alivia Chapla acknowledged that launch updates are "squarely in ULA's camp" and noted she was unable to provide further commentary on the matter.
"While we do not have any further information from ULA, we will be communicating mission updates as quickly as we receive them," Chapla said in a separate email statement.
The ULA has pushed back the launch date for Peregrine as well as the other vessels and instruments on board it numerous times this year.
At the start of 2023, Astrobotic had anticipated a May 4 launch date.
But on March 29, ULA's Bruno announced that ULA's Vulcan Centaur V rocket had experienced "an anomaly," which came after a message showing a video of an explosion that occurred outside of a testing rig that housed the ULA rocket.
That pushed the expected launch date initially to either June or July of this year but following further investigation, the ULA pushed the launch to Q4 2023, with Dec. 24 being the latest date the company has settled on for the launch.
According to the ULA, the launch will take place from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, where testing is currently underway.
If successful, the landing of Peregrine and its 26 different payloads from NASA and private parties, including Carnegie Mellon University, will be a monumental achievement not only for Astrobotic but also for Pittsburgh and the country as well, since it will take the U.S. back to the surface of the moon for the first time in 50 years.
