Nonstop: Pittsburgh to the Moon. Sort of

Local tech startup to land first spacecraft on Moon since Apollo

By Natalie Fiorilli

Published October 4, 2019

Read Time: 3 mins

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In 2021, Pittsburgh will be going to the moon. Well, at least parts of Pittsburgh will be.

A Pittsburgh-based space robotics company and Carnegie Mellon University spinoff, Astrobotic will launch the first aircraft to touch down on the moon from the United States since NASA’s Apollo lunar program ended in 1972.

Astrobotic, which is headquartered in Downtown Pittsburgh, got its start in 2007 to compete in Google’s “Lunar X Prize” competition, according to CEO John Thornton. The challenge offered a $20 million grand prize to the team that could develop a spacecraft able to land on the moon and transmit photos and video back to Earth. Google never selected a winner.

“That was the catalyst that really had us going,” said Thornton. “Today, what we’re all about is building a delivery service to go to the moon, and once there, we can provide power and communication services to customers so they can operate their payloads on the surface on the moon.”

In May, NASA awarded the tech company a $79.5 million contract to deliver 14 payloads, or equipment, to the moon as part of its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

In addition to NASA, Astrobotic has contracts with Carnegie Mellon and more than a dozen companies, government agencies, universities and non-profits representing eight different countries. As part of its first mission, the company will launch its lunar lander, Peregrine, to deliver a variety of payloads for client companies, including materials for scientific investigation, technology demonstration and exploration.

“There’s only been three nations to ever land on the moon, and