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| Attribute | Blue Moon Mark 1 (flight 2) Blue Moon MK1 / VIPER Delivery Trust: Trade-press only Last verified Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | Astrobotic | Blue Origin | CNSA |
| Prime contractor | Astrobotic | Blue Origin | China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) |
| Status | Lost | In development | Landed |
| Customer | NASA-CLPS | NASA-CLPS | CNSA |
| Launch date | 2024-01-08 | — | 2024-05-03 |
| Landing date | — | — | 2024-06-01 |
| Landing site | Sinus Viscositatis (planned; never reached) | Lunar south pole (VIPER traverse site) | Apollo crater, South Pole-Aitken Basin (lunar far side) |
| Payload | 20 payloads from 7 nations (2024-01-08) | VIPER rover (~430 kg dry) (2025-09-19) | 1,935.3 g of lunar far-side regolith returned to Earth (2024-06-25) |
| Contract value | $108M (2024-01-08) | $190M (2025-09-19) | — |
| Outcome | Maiden flight of ULA's Vulcan Centaur. Helium pressurant valve failed to reseal post-actuation, over-pressurizing the oxidizer tank and rupturing it. Lander commanded into controlled re-entry; burned up over South Pacific 2024-01-18. | NASA's CLPS task order awarded 2025-09-19 after pulling VIPER from Griffin. Re-uses second MK1 lander production unit; mission cadence depends on Pathfinder Mission 1 outcome. | First-ever sample return from the lunar far side and the South Pole-Aitken Basin. Used the Queqiao-2 relay satellite for far-side comms. Samples revealed unexpectedly cohesive grain behavior and excavated material from the Moon's mantle. |
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Underlying dataset: GET /api/moon/landers. Methodology: /moon/methodology.