Sunday celebrated the 50th anniversary of Apollo 17?s Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt’s December 11, 1972, lunar landing.
The Apollo moon missions were all about “the exhilaration of the technology,” according to ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada, who was not alive at the time. “It’s the enthusiasm of the business now,” he says.
“This is the beginning of the lunar economy,” Hakamada said during the SpaceX launch Livestream. “Let’s take a trip to the moon.”
Liftoff was supposed to happen two weeks ago, but SpaceX postponed it for further rocket inspections.
The recycled first-stage rocket landed back at Cape Canaveral beneath a nearly full moon, the two sonic booms ringing across the night.
