Two moon landers, one from Japan's ispace and another from U.S. space firm Firefly, began their journeys into space on Wednesday with SpaceX's unusual double moonshot launch, underscoring the global rush to examine the lunar surface.

EPIC (Earth image) The ispace mission will launch ‘Hakuto-R Mission 2’ on a four-and-a-half month journey to the lunar surface Japanese lander heads to the Moon About one month after launch Complete a lunar flyby 4.

Two moon landers built by private U.S. and Japanese companies are on their way to the moon after lifting off early Wednesday on a shared ride aboard a SpaceX rocket. The launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is the latest in a public-private program that put a spacecraft from Intuitive Machines on the moon last year.