A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral on Wednesday morning carrying two private lunar landers into orbit in support of NASA’s future Artemis landing crews. The Blue Ghost and Resilience landers,

Robotic vehicles from Firefly Aerospace of Texas and Ispace of Japan parted ways early Wednesday after being launched on the same SpaceX rocket. Both are aiming for the lunar surface.

The Blue Ghost mission is one of four Firefly is working on as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. The initiative is part of NASA's larger Artemis campaign to establish a long-term presence on the Moon and prepare for the exploration of Mars.