NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory described the complicated maneuver that will get the Trailblazer in a position to reach lunar orbit in a release published this week. Lunar Trailblazer will separate from its rocket approximately 48 minutes after launch, the release stated, and head towards the Moon for a minimum two-year mission.

The space exploration firm is scheduled to launch its six-legged Nova-C moon lander, Athena, on Wednesday as part of NASA's $2.6 billion Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. Athena is scheduled to launch aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

More than 50 years passed between the last Apollo mission and the United States' return to the lunar surface, when the first private lander touched down last February 2024. Now, starting Sunday, two more missions are set to follow within a single week,