While the rest of the world was ringing in the new year and fighting flame wars on social media, American engineers were trying to land on the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
And they were bringing a special payload with them. It included the last remains of Gene Roddenberry, some Star Trek cast members, and even some of President John F Kennedy’s DNA (among others).
Considering their role in capturing the American imagination and igniting the Space Age, it seems a fitting tribute to inter them on the Moon. Rather, it would have, if the project hadn’t run into some catastrophic ‘technical issues’.
Whose mission was it?
The Peregrine spacecraft launched from Florida on January 8th. It was the project of a private competitor to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Astrobotic Technology.
The Vulcan Rocket that lifted it into orbit functioned well on its maiden flight.
What went wrong?
Less than 6 hours into its maiden flight, a technical issue prevented the solar panels from turning to catch the sunlight. With the battery dwindling, they found a work-around to adjust the angle of the spacecraft.
Then came another problem — propellant.
[…] a propellant leak that sprang up shortly after Peregrine deployed from the rocket’s upper stage. Astrobotic has been troubleshooting and analyzing the issue ever since, and the company may now know what happened.
“Astrobotic’s current hypothesis about the Peregrine spacecraft’s propulsion anomaly is that a valve between the helium pressurant and the oxidizer failed to reseal after actuation during initialization,” company representatives wrote in a post on X Tuesday afternoon (Jan. 9).
“This led to a rush of high-pressure helium that spiked the pressure in the oxidizer tank beyond its operating limit and subsequently ruptured the tank,” they added. — Space
What was it carrying?
The only truly irreplaceable cargo on board would be the human remains of a number of notable figures.
Controversially, the spacecraft is also carrying human remains, including those of science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke; Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry; Roddenberry’s wife, Majel Barrett; and Nichelle Nichols, James Doohan and DeForest Kelley, who played Nyota Uhura, Montgomery Scott and Dr. Leonard McCoy, respectively, on the classic sci-fi show. Stored alongside these remains are samples of DNA of the U.S. presidents George Washington, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan. — Live Science
Besides that, there was a payload of scientific experiments they were bringing to the moon’s surface for NASA. Instruments on onboard were intended to measure such things as radiation levels, surface ice and magnetic fields.
Even in light of this setback, American can STILL say they are the only country in history to have sent anyone to visit the moon.
Despite using technology from 50+ years ago, that lander still made it home again.
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