Astrobotic and the Scramble to Beat NASA Back to Luna

Astrobotic, a scrappy Pittsburgh startup, shocked the space industry when it became the first private company to land a spacecraft on the Moon. Founded in 2008, Astrobotic initially set out to compete for the Google Lunar XPRIZE, a contest offering $20 million to the first privately-funded team to land a rover on the lunar surface and complete other objectives. Against all odds, this small startup with huge ambitions bested companies 100 times its size to win a major NASA contract in 2019 to carry the agency's payload to Lacus Mortis, a lunar crater, by 2021. With only two years to design, build, and test its spacecraft, Astrobotic set upon an audacious scramble to meet the tight deadline and make history as the first private firm to soft-land on the Moon.
In Astrobotic and the Scramble to Beat NASA Back to Luna, author Gist Hub grants readers exclusive behind-the-scenes access to the solar system's next Moon mission. Gist Hub documents the riveting story behind one of the most improbable feats of modern aerospace. By beating NASA to the lunar surface, this scrappy band of space cowboys showed the world that private companies have the right stuff for off-world exploration.