After 16 years, a career-defining moment for John Thornton has finally arrived.
The CEO of Astrobotic Technology Inc. and its roughly 200-person Pittsburgh workforce have done all they can at this point ahead of the company's inaugural launch of its Peregrine Lunar Lander, which, weather permitting, is tentatively set to blast off onboard United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur rocket at 2:18 a.m. on Jan. 8 from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
From there, Peregrine — a name shared with the fastest bird on the planet — will travel roughly 225,000 miles above Earth's surface before separating from ULA's rocket so that it can continue its path to the moon. It'll reach lunar orbit in about two weeks, though the Pittsburgh-based mission control team will wait until Feb. 23 before starting their sole attempt at landing on the surface of a celestial body that's captivated humanity since the dawn of civilization.
"Here we are on the launch pad," Thornton said during a media conference on Friday hosted by NASA and featuring other stakeholders in the launch. "I was out there just this morning, and it gives me goosebumps just to think I'm standing under a 200-foot tall launch vehicle with a lander that was built by thousands of people contributing at Astrobotic and our suppliers and our partners and all of the contributors of the payloads, culminating in this one moment sitting on top of this launch vehicle, getting it ready to light up on Monday. It's just an exciting, exciting moment."
Thornton said it has been 16 years of doubt from outsiders that at times reached dismissive laughter out of some who failed to see Astrobotic's vision of returning America to the surface of the moon for the first time in half a century.
If successful, the mission and its 20 payloads — five of which came from NASA as part of the agency's $108 million Commercial Lunar Payload Services contract with Astrobotic — will accomplish many firsts. Some of those are related to the payloads themselves, like those that will represent the first presence on the moon for six countries, while others fall on the design and build of the robotic lander itself.
"The number of firsts are massive and I think that's what makes it exciting," Thornton said. "There's a lot of people looking to this mission and [there's been] a lot of meaning and connection we've made with people all over the world and I think that's going to keep eyes attached to this and hopefully, on a great success, we'll see a lot of people cheering this mission and all of our customers that have joined this mission."
And the odds are trending positive that the weather will permit the launch to occur. Liftoff has been pushed back numerous times in the past but all before the rocket and Peregrine ever reached the launchpad.
"Our probability of weather violation is only 15%, which translates to an 85% 'go' for weather," Melody Lovin, launch weather officer at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron, said during the media briefing. "Our primary concern for the opening of the launch window Sunday night will be the thick cloud layers."
The odds of a weather violation worsen for the 24- and 48-hour delay window should it be needed, Lovin said.
Should that happen and should the additional delay window expire, ULA and Astrobotic will target Jan. 23 as the next possible launch date.
