Lunar lander from Pittsburgh's North Side burns up in atmosphere after failed moon mission

After traveling for 10 days and hundreds of thousands of miles in space, a Pittsburgh company’s lunar lander appears to have burned up in the atmosphere Thursday afternoon after returning to Earth.

The spacecraft, the first American effort to attempt a moon landing in decades, closed the book on its ill-fated journey around 4 p.m., when it was expected to enter Earth’s atmosphere and burn up before landing in a remote part of the South Pacific Ocean near Australia.

Astrobotic, the North Side-based space robotics company that developed the Peregrine lander under a contract with NASA, confirmed the spacecraft’s demise. The company said it lost contact with the Peregrine before the planned reentry, which “indicates the vehicle completed its controlled re-entry over open water in the South Pacific.”

Astrobotic, however, stressed it “await(s) independent confirmation from government entities.” Officials from NASA and Astrobotic are expected to speak publicly on the mission during a news briefing at 1 p.m. Friday.

Peregrine operated in space for more than 10 days and, at one time, was approximately 30,000 miles above Earth.

Astrobotic, through updates on its website, said Peregrine was “stable, operational, and responsive” until the end.

The Peregrine lunar lander launched into space last week with the goal of a soft landing on the moon. It quickly became clear the lander wouldn’t achieve its goal, however, when a “critical” malfunction was identified in Peregrine’s propulsion system, leading to a fuel loss.

On Saturday, Astrobotic said the lander’s trajectory showed it was on a path toward Earth, where it was expected to burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Astrobotic was seeking to become the first commercial company to complete a mission to the moon.