[20][21] In June 2021, ULA CEO Tory Bruno announced that payload and engine-testing problems would delay the maiden flight of Vulcan, with Mission One aboard, to 2022.

This propulsion system was designed to handle the trans-lunar injection, trajectory corrections, lunar orbit insertion, and powered descent.

[1] The spacecraft's avionics incorporate guidance and navigation to the Moon, and a Doppler LiDAR to assist the automated landing on four legs.

[1] Instruments The PITMS sensor had direct heritage from the Ptolemy mass spectrometer that made the first in situ measurements of volatiles and organics on comet 67P with the Rosetta lander, Philae.

PITMS was to operate in a passive sampling mode, where molecules fall into the zenith-facing aperture and are trapped by a radiofrequency field, then sequentially released for analysis.

The PITMS investigation was to provide time-resolved variability of OH, H2O, noble gases, nitrogen, and sodium compounds released from the soil and present in the exosphere over the course of a lunar day.

PITMS observations were to complement other instruments on board the Peregrine lander for a comprehensive approach to understanding the surface and exosphere composition, linking surface properties and composition to LADEE measurements from orbit, and providing a mid-latitude point of comparison for polar measurements planned by VIPER, PROSPECT, and other missions.

The PITMS data was to provide a critical mid-latitude link to future polar mass specs to characterize the latitudinal migration of volatiles from equator to poles.

The Centaur upper stage started its first burn at T+5:15, which took more than 10 minutes to complete and put the vehicle into a low Earth orbit.

[43] Roughly seven hours after the launch, Astrobotic reported that a problem, likely with the propulsion system, had "prevented [the lander] from achieving a stable sun-pointing orientation".

At 21:16 EST, Astrobotic said in a statement that thrusters were operating "well beyond their expected service life cycles" and that the "spacecraft could continue in a stable sun-pointing state for approximately 40 more hours" before it would run out of fuel, then lose attitude control and power.

[50][51] Four days into the mission, the propellant leak appeared to slow, and Astrobotic reported that "there is growing optimism that Peregrine could survive much longer" than was previously anticipated.

A controlled re-entry took place at 15:59 on 18 January EST (20:59 UTC),[54] with possible impact somewhere near Point Nemo, a spacecraft cemetery in the South Pacific.

[56] Astrobotic will have a second landing attempt, consisting of the larger Griffin lander, with launch previously scheduled for November 2024.