SpaceX launched a pair of lunar landers on Wednesday for two separate companies looking to jumpstart business on the Moon. The two landers rocketed away in the middle of the night from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in the US.

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.

The two landers are expected to touch down on the surface of the moon in two and four months respectively. View on euronews

SpaceX has launched a pair of lunar landers for US and Japanese companies looking to jumpstart business up there.

One rocket, two missions: lunar landers built by US and Japanese companies launched their "rideshare" to the moon on Wednesday, showcasing the private sector's growing role in space exploration.

Frank Sinatra once crooned, "Fly me to the moon. Let me play among the stars," and for two companies, including one here in Texas, SpaceX granted that wish.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch moon landers built by Firefly Aerospace and the Japanese company ispace early Wednesday (Jan. 15), and you can watch it live.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch 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.

The two robotic lunar landers —one from Firefly Aerospace based near Austin, Texas, and another from the Japanese space company ispace—will use their own small engines for the final maneuvers required to enter orbit around the Moon in the coming months.

Firefly's "Blue Moon" and ispace's "Resilience" are the latest in an ongoing push to gain private-sector experience exploring the moon.