ORLANDO, Florida/TOKYO: On January 15, two moon landers, one from Japan's ispace and another from the U.S. company Firefly Aerospace, launched into space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

This "double moonshot" highlights the global interest in exploring the moon.

Japan's ispace launched its Hakuto-R Mission 2, making a second attempt to land on the moon after its first mission in April 2023 failed due to an altitude miscalculation. Meanwhile, Texas-based Firefly Aerospace launched its first moon lander, Blue Ghost, as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

Around 300 ispace employees, partners, and families celebrated as the Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Florida. Blue Ghost separated from the rocket about an hour after launch, followed by ispace's lander, Resilience, 30 minutes later. ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada praised the team's resilience after the previous failure.

Resilience is carrying six payloads, including a "Micro Rover" to collect lunar samples, valued at $16 million in total. It will take a fuel-efficient route using Earth and moon gravity, aiming to land around May-June. Firefly's Blue Ghost is carrying 10 payloads, including equipment from NASA and Honeybee Robotics, and plans to reach the moon in 45 days, around March 2.

Both missions are designed to last one lunar day (about two weeks) but will end once the harsh lunar night begins, with temperatures dropping to -200F (-128C).

These launches are part of a broader focus on the moon by countries and private companies, seeing it as a potential base for astronauts and a source of valuable resources. NASA aims to return humans to the moon under its Artemis program by 2027 (or later), while China plans to land its astronauts by 2030.