**SpaceX Successfully Launches Private Lunar Missions on Falcon 9 Rocket**

**The launch highlights the growing trend of commercial space exploration, with NASA's support backing these ambitious lunar missions.**

In a groundbreaking step for private space exploration, two lunar landers developed by American and Japanese companies have embarked on their journey to the Moon aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The launch took place at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 01:09 local time (06:09 GMT) on Wednesday. The mission includes landers from Firefly Aerospace, based in the U.S., and ispace, hailing from Japan.

As the Falcon 9 propels into space, the landers will eventually detach and continue their independent explorations of the lunar surface. Firefly's rover, known as Blue Ghost, is expected to reach the Moon in approximately 45 days post-separation, where it will conduct analysis by drilling, sampling, and capturing X-ray images of the Earth's magnetic field, contributing vital research toward future human landings on the Moon and understanding space weather effects on our planet.

On the other hand, ispace's Resilence lander is projected to take up to five months to land on the Moon, where it intends to deploy a rover and collect loose lunar material, known as regolith, for further studies. This mission marks significant progress in commercial lunar exploration, bolstered by NASA’s endorsement. Notably, last year Intuitive Machines became the first commercial entity to successfully place a lander on the Moon, joining the ranks of earlier lunar missions conducted by the U.S., the Soviet Union, China, India, and Japan.

In a separate venture, SpaceX is preparing for the seventh orbital flight test of its Starship rocket, scheduled to launch from Texas at 16:00 local time (22:00 GMT). As the interest in lunar initiatives accelerates, the involvement of companies like Firefly and ispace signifies a promising future for commercial space ventures.