Something went wrong with Luna…

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On Monday, the American spacecraft launch enterprise United Launch Alliance and the space technology company Astrobotic launched a Vulcan Centaur rocket with a Peregrine lander towards the Moon. It was supposed to land on the moon on February 23, 2024 on the visible side of the Moon.

In addition to scientific instruments from NASA and several research centers needed to study the surface environment of the Moon before the arrival of astronauts as part of the Artemis mission, memorial capsules with the remains of Star Trek screenwriter Gene Roddenberry, his wife and three others were put there pathetically, but it is not clear why. actors of the project, as well as hair samples of three US presidents – George Washington, Dwight Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy, drawings, photographs and other “objects of cultural significance.”

A few hours after launch, an accident occurred with the module – the oxidizer tank ruptured due to problems with the valve between the helium tank and the oxidizer. The failure of the propulsion system led to critical fuel losses. The developer company Astrobotic reported that the Peregrine device has no chance of making a soft landing on the Moon, and the fuel will last for about 40 hours.

But even the Indians protested against “turning the Moon into a cemetery.” Now NASA has announced that it is delaying the launch of the flagship lunar missions Artemis 2 and Artemis 3 by a year due to technical difficulties with the various spacecraft it intends to use to achieve this goal.

So, of the three completed launches to the Moon, Russia and the United States were failures, and only India’s launch was successful. This suggests that we are witnessing a rapid increase in competition in space, with developing countries nipping at the heels of space-faring powers. Well, for supporters of the version that the United States was not on the Moon, there is a new argument – how could they send a man to the Moon if decades later they are not able to deliver even the remains of their presidents to the satellite?

PS When the Russian mission Luna 25 crashed, from the Ukrainians there was a lot of hate on the topic of “crooked Russians”. I wonder if there will be similar comments towards the Americans?

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