PITTSBURGH — The Steel City is known for a lot, from sports to research institutions, but rarely do you think of space.
“Astrobotic is your neighborhood space company here in Pittsburgh,” said CEO John Thornton.
This company is preparing two missions to space, with one later this year including pieces of our region to help the project succeed.
“Many of the parts that are flying on our first mission were sourced from local suppliers right here in the Pittsburgh region,” Thornton said.
Before their launch comes Artemis One, the first of the projects for returning to the moon.
“The goal of this launch is to test the launch vehicle itself. This is the largest launch vehicle ever built by NASA, and they need to make sure it’s big enough and powerful enough and safe enough to put astronauts on top of it,” Thornton said.
The focus this weekend for Astrobotic is the technology, because they will send robots next to scout for the upcoming human missions.
“I think we can be quite proud here in Pittsburgh that we are the tip of the sphere to return astronauts to the surface of the moon,” Thornton said.
All eyes will be to the sky as this launch potentially takes off, but no matter what happens, it will help Astrobotic prepare for its mission later this year.
“Even with partial success, there’s a lot that can be learned, so we have to remember this is the first of a campaign of return flights to the moon; it’s not just this mission,” Thornton said.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
This browser does not support the video element.