Nobody likes a missed delivery, but when DHL failed to deliver 151 boxes to their final destination last month, the parcel carrier had a pretty good excuse. For this delivery, DHL was unable to use time-tested freight conveyances like trucks or planes. Instead, the Florida-based company was trying out a new and decidedly different type of vehicle—a rocket ship made by the space technology company Astrobotic.
Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander, part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Jan. 8. But in the harsh environment of outer space, technical problems soon developed that prevented the rocket from completing its planned landing on the lunar surface. Its controllers elected to steer the vehicle back to Earth, where the rocket intentionally burned up during reentry into the atmosphere.
That also spelled the end of the road for the 151 DHL “MoonBoxes” on board. The MoonBoxes, capsules measuring up to 1 inch wide by 2 inches high, contained mementos contributed by individuals worldwide, including a letter from Richard Garriott, the first private astronaut; stories written by children; and a fragment from Mount Everest. DHL had also thrown in a data stick containing 100,000 images conveying the concept of love that had been submitted globally through social media.
Despite the breakdown, DHL may get another chance to make the special delivery. The January launch was just the first of many planned payload missions to the moon as the carrier pursues its goal of providing out-of-this-world delivery service to customers like scientific, commercial, and governmental organizations.
