NASA has initiated its first mission of 2024 under the CLPS initiative, sending five payloads to the Moon on Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander. Dr. Sharad Bhaskaran, originally from India and the Mission Director, leads the engineering team at Astrobotic Technology Inc. in Pittsburgh. Following Israel’s 2019 mission, this endeavor achieves major milestones, including the first U.S. lunar landing in over five decades and the inaugural flight of ULA’s Vulcan Centaur rocket.
Formerly associated with Lockheed Martin, Bhaskaran brings 25 years of experience to Astrobotic, where he directs the development of a commercial robotic lunar lander for transporting payloads. A mechanical engineering graduate from the University of Texas at Austin, his parents hail from Kochi.
The launch marks the second private lunar mission, differing with notable firsts – the first U.S. lunar landing post Apollo 17 and the debut flight of ULA’s Vulcan Centaur rocket under NASA’s CLPS initiative.