Falcon 9 launches HAKUTO-R M1 and Lunar Flashlight

A SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle launched HAKUTO-R M1 and Lunar Flashlight from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, on 11 December 2022, at 07:38 UTC (02:38 EST). Following stage separation, Falcon 9’s first stage (B1073) landed on Landing Zone 1 (LZ-1) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, having previously supported four missions: SES-22 and three Starlink missions. ispace’s Hakuto-R M1 is the first privately-led Japanese mission to land on the lunar surface. NASA’s Lunar Flashlight is a very small satellite developed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory that will use near-infrared lasers and an onboard spectrometer to map ice in permanently shadowed regions near the Moon’s south pole.
Credit: ispace/NASA/SpaceX