Space is Hard / Writers on the Moon

Writers on the Moon is a time capsule of 125 authors' works (plus their stowaways' works) that was onboard the Peregrine Lunar Lander.

Peregrine was the first American Moon Lander to launch in 50 years! Although it didn't go as planned, we will always be a part of that bit of space history.

Peregrine Lander Timeline of Events:

January 8th, 2024, 2:18am EST:

- The United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket carrying the Peregrine lander launched 1/8/2024 at 2:18am from Cape Canaveral, FL.

Check out the launch here.

- After successfully separating from the rocket, Peregrine experienced an anomaly that impacted Astrobotic's ability to maintain a sun-pointing orientation.

- The team at Astrobotic executed an improvised maneuver to reorient the lander's solar array toward the Sun. All the while, the lander's battery was reaching operationally low levels.

- The maneuver to reorient the solar array toward the sun was successful, and Astrobotic's team began charging the battery.

- Astrobotic confirmed that a failure in the propulsion system caused a critical loss of propellant, meaning there would be no way to safely land on the moon. The goal was to get Peregrine as close to lunar distance as possible.

January 9th, 2024:

- However, despite the team at Astrobotic overcoming another instanced when Peregrine tilted away from the sun and had to be reoriented again, and the batteries being fully charged, it became clear there would be no moon landing.

- Astrobotic operated Peregrine as a spacecraft and was able to use all 9 the scientific payloads onboard to gather data and perform experiments, as well as prove operational capability in space.

January 12th, 2024:

- Peregrine reached lunar distance at about 238,000 miles from Earth.  The spacecraft was steadily losing fuel, though.

January 13th, 2024:

- Peregrine was on a path back to Earth.

January 14th, 2024:

- NASA and Astrobotic agreed to let Peregrine burn up during re-entry in Earth's atmosphere to protect our satellites and prevent space debris. 

January 18th, 2024, 4:40pm EST:

- Re-entry location over a remote area in the South Pacific.

And the was the end of Peregrine Lunar Lander.

The Future of Writers on the Moon:

When Peregrine burned up, the Writers on the Moon payload burned up, too, but this isn't exactly the end of Writers on the Moon. Susan Kaye Quinn, who conceived the idea, has purchased another Astrobotic's Moon Box for inclusion on another lunar lander. It's unclear at the moment if it's for the Griffin Lunar Lander that is supposed to launch this year or not.

Now, there's no knowing how this is going to go, whether the moon box will be on Griffin or even when the launch will happen. After all, this project started in 2020, with the launch anticipated for 2021, but with the pandemic and delays on the rocket and many other factors, the launch did not happen until 2024. Susan will not buy another moon box from another company, only Astrobotic, and she will continue to try to get WOTM to the moon as long as Astrobotic continues to try, which is unknown after Griffin flies.

Good News for My Payload and My Mom's Payload, Though:

I gave Writers on the Moon participant, Sam Peralta, permission to include my full payload and my mom's full payload in Lunar Codex's Polaris time capsule. Which means all of our stowaways will be hitching a ride to the moon on this time capsule, too!

Originally, Susan Kaye Quinn had given permission for the ENTIRE Writers on the Moon collection to be included in the Lunar Codex back in May 2022, but she withdrew consent January 2024. I hadn't received a notification about this and ended up asking Sam Peralta about it after getting a Writers on the Moon newsletter that mentioned WOTM would not be a backed up on the Lunar Codex. Once I found out that individuals had to give him permission, I jumped on it.

So, that means that my stories and my mom's stories and our stowaways' stories will make it to the moon one way or another.

Future Attempts:

One attempt will be on the Griffin Lunar Lander with Astrobotic, for the Lunar South Pole. (The official WOTM payload may or may not be on this lander.)

A second attempt will be with Intuitive Machines Nova-C Lander, for Oceanus Procellarum.

Both launches are set for 2024, but we shall see, right?

Or, at least, I think these are the launches. 😂 I can’t get confirmation.

I fully believe that I will eventually be able to say that our stories are on the moon as the first intergalactic library.

For more details about my payload and stowaways, go here.

For more details about my mom's payload and stowaways, go here.

Now, to quote Buzz Lightyear, "To infinity and beyond!"