American and Japanese spacecrafts were launched to the Moon on a SpaceX rocket

The US plans to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon later this decade under the Artemis programme.
One rocket, two missions: lunar vehicles built by US and Japanese companies have launched their "shared journey" to the Moon, demonstrating the growing role of the private sector in space exploration.
Aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, which blasted off from Florida's Kennedy Space Center, were Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost spacecraft and Japan's Resilience spacecraft, which will also deploy a micro rover.
Both uncrewed missions are intended to build on the success of Texas-based Intuitive Machines, which last year became the first private company to successfully land on Earth's celestial neighbor.
Until recently, soft landings on the moon were achieved by only a few well-funded national space agencies, starting with the Soviet Union in 1966.
Now, however, several emerging U.S. companies are attempting to repeat the feat under NASA's experimental Commercial Lunar Cargo Services program, designed to cut costs and boost the lunar economy.
The U.S. plans to establish a permanent human presence on the moon later this decade under the Artemis program, using commercial partners to supply critical hardware that accomplishes the task at a much lower cost than government-led missions.
"Each milestone we complete will provide valuable data for future missions and ultimately keep the United States and our international partners at the forefront of space exploration," said Firefly Aerospace CEO Jason Kim.
"Firefly is ready for launch. Let's take to the skies!" he added. | BGNES, AFP