Ahead of Monday's launch of Astrobotic's Peregrine lunar lander, United Launch Alliance (ULA) has shipped its new Vulcan rocket to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida. Lark is the first privately developed lunar lander in the United States, and its launch is part of broader global private industry interest in commercial-led lunar exploration.

The lunar lander will also mark the second time that a U.S. space launch company has sent a private spacecraft to the lunar surface. The mission will be carried out by ULA's Vulcan rocket and an upgraded Centaur final stage rocket.

The upcoming ULA launch is a special one for the U.S. aerospace industry. It will mark the second time a private company has sent a payload to the moon and the first mission using a privately developed heavy-lift launch vehicle. SpaceX is the first company to send a lunar lander to the moon, which takes a special path and uses Earth's gravity to accelerate a spacecraft to the moon as part of a launch for Japanese company iSpace. Astrobtic's "Lark" lunar lander will be the first attempt by a private lander spacecraft developed in the United States to enter the moon.

The "Lark" will be equipped with multiple instruments developed by space agencies and companies around the world. If the landing mission goal is successfully achieved, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will have a valuable database for use by the "Artemis" program.

The Artemis program is a multi-year effort to establish a working presence on the moon. The plan, launched by SpaceX's "Starship" and NASA's "SLS", aims to achieve the second human landing on the moon within this decade since the "Apollo Project" in the 1960s and 1970s.

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is another company that will be watching ULA's launch closely. Blue Origin is developing its own heavy-lift launch vehicle, New Glenn. Unlike the "Vulcan" first-stage rocket, the "New Glenn" first-stage rocket booster is similar to SpaceX's "Falcon 9" in terms of landing method and reusable target. Powering the booster are two BE-4 rocket engines, each capable of producing 500,000 pounds of thrust.

Since New Glenn is a reusable first-stage rocket system, it uses seven of these engines. A successful Vulcan flight will mean Blue Origin can rest easy knowing its engines can support the full flight profile of a lunar mission. Data from the engine will also inform Blue Origin's plans to launch its own lunar lander under NASA's Artemis program and Amazon subsidiary Kuiper's plan to launch low-Earth orbit (LEO) internet satellites.

The Lark lunar lander will launch from the Cape Canaveral Space Station at 2:18 a.m. EST on Monday. After launching on January 8, the lunar lander will fly to the moon and conduct several tests in orbit before attempting a landing on February 25, about a month and a half after launch. A successful launch will allow ULA to demonstrate the operational capabilities of its Vulcan rocket and open the market for its brand new rocket.

With 1.1 million pounds of thrust, the Vulcan is SpaceX's main competitor to the larger Falcon Heavy rocket. While Falcon Heavy produces more thrust, the Vulcan Centaur V's second stage is larger in diameter. ULA has several technologies developed to use spent fuel to extend its on-orbit life to weeks.