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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Technology
Richard Luscombe and agency

SpaceX launches two lunar landers to the moon

people photograph a rocket launch
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Wednesday. Photograph: Cristóbal Herrera/EPA

Two privately built lunar landers were speeding towards the moon on Wednesday after space start-ups from Texas and Japan split the cost of an early-hours ride aboard a SpaceX Falcon rocket.

The 1.11am ET launch from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center saw a rover from the Tokyo company ispace share cargo space with a lander from Cedar Park-based Firefly Aerospace, whose Blue Ghost Mission 1 will conduct a number of experiments for Nasa after it touches down in early March.

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