The United States is returning to the moon on Jan. 25 after 51 years away from the lunar body.
The mission will come nearly 55 years after the famous Apollo 11 mission resulted in the U.S. putting the first human on an extraterrestrial body — a key point of national pride. However, January's mission will differ from the Apollo missions that landed on the moon several times. This time, the craft won't be made by NASA but rather by a private company, the Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic. The landing will also be entirely autonomous, and no astronauts will be on board.
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The date for the return to the moon was revealed at a press conference on Wednesday by Astrobotic CEO John Thornton. He laid out the difficult task before them.
"One of the big challenges of what we're attempting here is attempting a launch and landing on the surface moon for a fraction of what it would otherwise cost," he said. "Only about half of the missions that have gone to the surface of the moon have been successful."
"So it's certainly a daunting challenge," he added. "I'm going to be terrified and thrilled all at once at every stage of this."
The rocket, Vulcan Centaur, is scheduled to take off from Florida on Christmas Eve. The craft will orbit the moon for an extended period until conditions are favorable and then dispatch the lander to descend autonomously.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Astrobotic.
On Oct. 31, the Peregrine lunar lander arrived in Florida for preparation for the mission, and the NASA logo was emblazoned on it.
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"It's incredible to realize that we are just a short time away from our Peregrine spacecraft beginning its journey to the moon," Thornton said at the time. "After years of dedication and hard work, we are so close to having our moonshot. We invite you to follow along as Peregrine, with seven countries represented aboard, launches to the moon and attempts one of the first successful landings of an American spacecraft since Apollo."
The government commissioned the company to send scientific experiments and technologies to the moon as part of the CLPS program.