US mission to make first-ever private lunar landing blasts off

If the spacecraft reaches the moon, it would be the first time the US would have a soft landing there since 1972.

A mission to put the first commercial craft on the moon has blasted off from the United States.

Vulcan, a United Launch Alliance (ULA) rocket carrying a robotic lunar lander, was launched on Monday at 02:18 EST (07:18 GMT) from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The mission is part of an accelerating space race among private companies and would be the first-ever lunar landing by a private company. It would also be the first US landing on the moon in more than half a century.

The lunar lander, named Peregrine, was built by space robotics firm Astrobotic Technology. It is a passenger on the first flight of Vulcan. The rocket was developed by the joint Boeing-Lockheed venture ULA over the last decade.

“Everything looks just spot on, just perfect,” Eric Monda, a ULA mission official, said from the launch control room.