Moon Mission Tragedy: Peregrine Lander Incinerates Over Pacific Ocean

The privately built lunar lander, Peregrine, designed to journey to the moon, suffered a critical propellant leak shortly after launching into orbit and ultimately burned up in Earth's atmosphere, ending its mission. The mission, closely watched as the first U.S. lunar lander to launch into space in over 50 years, was part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program aimed at spurring development of new moon landers by private sector companies. NASA recently announced delays to upcoming Artemis missions, including a lunar fly-around and the first Artemis landing attempt.