Lunar lander built on Pittsburgh’s North Side will head to the moon Monday

PITTSBURGH — In 1961, President John F. Kennedy challenged our country to send a man to the moon.

Now, more than 60 years later, the U.S. is poised to return to the moon for the first time since the Apollo missions.

This next giant leap for mankind comes in the form of a lunar lander, called Peregrine, designed and built in Pittsburgh by Astrobotic, which is headquartered on the North Shore.

“We got started in Pittsburgh 16 years ago and we’ve been here ever since, but the reason that we’ve stayed is we have really world-class robotics talent in this city,” said CEO John Thornton.

At 2:18 a.m. Monday, the Peregrine is poised to lift off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, and head to space aboard a United Launch Alliance “Vulcan” rocket, which will also be on its maiden voyage.

If all goes smoothly, the Peregrine will land on the surface of the moon on Feb. 23, marking the first time a commercial company has landed on the moon.

“This lander represents not just the physical cargo delivery, but it also represents the dawn of a new era on the surface of the moon that will be commercial and open up routine, regular, affordable access to the surface,” said Thornton. “That’s going to open up science and exploration in ways we’ve never seen before.”

The Peregrine mission is partially funded by NASA and six of the 20 payloads to be delivered to the moon are pieces of NASA technology.

“Peregrine is essentially a cargo delivery system to take payloads to the surface of the moon. A payload is like our cargo, our delivery boxes to go up to the surface,” Thornton explained.

Six other payloads represent countries that have never touched down on the moon before, including Mexico, Germany, and the UK.

“That’s a really special moment to be able to be a part of six nations’ Apollo moments to land on the surface,” Thornton said.

Also included in the payload delivery is a moon rover named Iris, built by students at CMU, as well as a memento paying tribute to Astrobotic’s home city.

“[It’s] actually a coin from Kennywood so there’s a small coin that’s going to be sent up to the surface that represents the token of Pittsburgh.”

That token will remain on the moon forever, making Pittsburgh’s impact on space permanent.

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