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Space

International fleet of spacecraft is heading to the moon in 2024

More than 10 missions are heading to the moon in 2024, with orbiters, landers, rovers and even crewed spacecraft making the trip and paving the way for future exploration

By Leah Crane

27 December 2023

Illustration of Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lunar lander

An artist’s impression of Intuitive Machines’s Nova-C lunar lander

NASA

In 2024, the world’s space agencies are shooting for the moon. More than 10 missions are headed to Earth’s satellite, most of them intending to land on its surface and all paving the way for human lunar exploration.

“It is the year of the moon,” says Bethany Ehlmann at the California Institute of Technology. “The number of moon missions in 2024 is really a reflection and a realisation of the momentum from the last five years or so –…

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