A SpaceX mission set to lift off overnight marks a first for Firefly Aerospace under NASA’s plans to build up American companies to support its lunar goals. A Falcon 9 targeting a 1:11 a.m, liftoff Wednesday from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A is carrying the Cedar Park,

Flawed rocket launches by SpaceX and Blue Origin still leave both companies in position to dominate the space sector.

Built by Firefly Aerospace and Ispace, the pair of spacecraft will land separately in the moon's northern latitudes, conduct science experiments and test new technology

Firefly’s Blue Ghost — named after a species of U.S. Southeastern fireflies — should reach the moon first. The 6-foot-6-inches-tall (2-meter-tall) lander will attempt a touchdown in early March at Mare Crisium, a volcanic plain in the northern latitudes.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched lunar landers to the moon for two commercial missions on Wednesday, January 15.

A SpaceX rocket set to launch overnight will carry two lunar landers, one from Austin-based Firefly Aerospace and one from Japan’s ispace.

The two landers that departed from Kennedy Space Center are the latest in a stream of private spacecraft headed to the moon.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blared toward space Wednesday carrying a pair of lunar landers on a journey to our closest celestial neighbor — kicking off what’s expected to be a bustling year of moon missions amid a renewed race to establish a long-term human presence on the lunar surface.