US, Japanese companies send landers on moon missions
Voice of America
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches carrying Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lunar lander as the primary payload and Japan-based ispace's Resilience lander as a secondary payload, from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, Jan. 15, 2025.
Two moon landers built by private U.S. and Japanese companies are on their way to the moon after lifting off early Wednesday on a shared ride aboard a SpaceX rocket.
A nun places an object at a makeshift memorial outside Gemelli Hospital, where Pope Francis is a patient, in Rome, March 8, 2025.
FILE - A man stands before an audience at the annual developer conference known as Google I/O in Mountain View, Calif., May 14, 2024.
FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump and moderator Laura Ingraham gesture on stage during a Fox News Channel town hall Feb. 20, 2024, in Greenville, SC.
FILE - A monarch butterfly rests near a stream at Piedra Herrada sanctuary in the mountains near Valle de Bravo, Mexico, Jan. 4, 2023.
Demonstrators gather for the Stand Up For Science rally near the Lincoln Memorial, March 7, 2025, in Washington. A protestor wearing a fish costume holds a sign as demonstrators gather for the Stand Up For Science rally near the Lincoln Memorial, March 7, 2025, in Washington.
FILE - A photo illustration of bitcoin is seen at consensus, the flagship event of Coindesk and the data platform for the global crypto economy, at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Hong Kong on Feb. 19, 2025.
SpaceX's mega rocket Starship lifts off for a test flight from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, March 6, 2025.
Callum Ganz, 17, center, gives a pre-show pep talk to castmates in 'Crazy for You' on opening night as the Theatre Palisades Youth group returns to the stage after losing their theater in the Palisades fire, in Los Angeles, Feb. 28, 2025. A Theatre Palisades stands next to the theater destroyed by the Palisades Fire, in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Calif., Jan. 25, 2025.
This March 3, 2025, image courtesy of Intuitive Machines, LLC shows the company's IM-2 mission Nova-C class lunar lander, Athena, in circular orbit around the moon.
FILE - Cars drive along a highway photographed through a glass window during a dust storm amid heavy pollution in Beijing, March 10, 2023.
FILE - Open AI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman speaks on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Sept. 23, 2024. A U.S. judge on Tuesday denied Elon Musk's request to prevent OpenAI from becoming a for-profit business.
Trent, left, and Victoria Warmerdam, winners of the award for best live action short film for "I'm Not a Robot," attend the Governors Ball after the Oscars on March 2, 2025, in Los Angeles.
Staff at the Mission Control outside Austin, Texas celebrating as lunar lander Blue Ghost touches down on the moon with a special delivery for NASA, March 2, 2025. (NASA/Firefly Aerospace via AP) Private lunar lander Blue Ghost after touching down on the moon with a special delivery for NASA, March 2, 2025. (NASA/Firefly Aerospace via AP)