The American company United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched this Monday (8), from Florida, its new Vulcan Centaur rocket with the Peregrine module loaded with NASA instruments to analyze the surface of the Moon.
Liftoff took place, as planned, at 2:20 am (local time, 4:20 am Brasília), from Space Launch Complex 41 of the Cape Canaveral Space Force, in central Florida. When it reaches the satellite on its own, Peregrine will become the first American lander to reach the lunar surface in more than 50 years.
In addition to the cargo for NASA, related to its Artemis program to return to the Moon, Vulcan also left with DNA samples from former American presidents and cremated remains of actors from the Star Trek television series for the private company Celestis. “I am very happy,” wrote Tory Bruno, president and CEO of ULA after the launch.
In the case of NASA's sending, it is the American agency's first commercial robotic mission that will reach the Moon.
Vulcan will carry Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar module, which is scheduled to land in a region on the other side of the Moon known in Latin as Sinus Viscositatiswhich means sticky bay.
NASA will pay Astrobotic US$108 million (R$526.8 million) to carry out five experiments there, as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which aims to reduce the cost of sending objects to the lunar surface.
The rocket sent this Monday carries ashes and DNA samples from celebrities and prominent figures, including what has already been identified as the hair of former American presidents George Washington, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, according to the Celestis Memorial Spaceflights, a company specializing in space memorials.
Added to them are the remains and DNA samples of Gene Roddenberry and his wife Majel, both creators of Star Trek, as well as actors from the television series such as Nichelle Nichols, DeForest Kelley and James Doohan, as well as Douglas Trumbull, effects creator specials in films such as “2001: A Space Odyssey”.
The sending of mortal remains by commercial space burial companies Elysium Space and Celestis generated a movement of opposition by the largest group of Native Americans, the Navajo nation, which contested the action as an affront to several indigenous cultures, which have the Moon as something sacred. “The suggestion of turning the Moon into a resting place for human remains is deeply disturbing and unacceptable to our people and many other tribal nations,” said Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren.
In response, Celestis CEO Charles Chafer told the broadcaster CNN which rejects the arguments presented by the community and does not consider space travel to be a desecration of the natural satellite. “We reject the claim that our memorial spaceflight mission desecrates the Moon. Just as permanent memorials to the deceased are present throughout planet Earth and are not considered desecration, our memorial on the Moon is treated with care and reverence, it is a permanent monument that does not intentionally eject flight capsules on the Moon. It is a moving and appropriate celebration for our participants – exactly the opposite of desecration, it is a celebration,” he said. (With EFE Agency)
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