Peregrine: US spacecraft in flames over Pacific Ocean

The American spacecraft launched last week to try to land on the moon ended its mission in flames over the Pacific Ocean, the BBC reported.

Peregrine One suffered a propulsion failure that scuppered any prospect of landing on the Moon and was ordered to self-destruct instead.

The private operator, Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, guided the craft into Earth's atmosphere to burn up.

The tracking station in Canberra, Australia, confirmed the loss of signal with Peregrine at 20:59 GMT.

Little or no wreckage was expected to survive intact on the surface of the ocean. And even if they remained, they would have to have fallen far from any population.

Astrobotic's goal was to deliver five NASA instruments to the lunar surface to study the local environment before the astronauts return later this decade.

Had the Peregrine spacecraft managed to land successfully, it would have become the first American mission in half a century and the first private invention to do so.

So far, only government agencies from the United States, the Soviet Union, China, and India have managed to carry out a controlled landing on the moon.

But Astrobotic's mission ran into trouble almost as soon as it broke away from the launch vehicle on Monday, January 8. Still, she can take solace in what she managed to achieve under difficult circumstances, continuing to operate Peregrine in space for more than 10 days./BGNES