Two lunar landers built by private companies in the US and Japan have left Earth aboard a SpaceX rocket as part of a rideshare to the Moon. The Falcon 9 took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 01:09 local time (06:09 GMT) on Wednesday, carrying landers belonging to America's Firefly Aerospace and Japan's ispace.

Robotic vehicles from Firefly Aerospace of Texas and Ispace of Japan will part ways early Wednesday after launching from the same SpaceX rocket. Both are aiming for the lunar surface.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is set to launch a pair of lunar landers on a journey to our closest celestial neighbor — kicking off what’s expected to be a bustling year of moon missions amid a renewed race to establish a long-term human presence on the lunar surface.

The payloads will be delivered to the moon via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket being launched at 1:11 a.m. Eastern time (12:11 a.m. Central time) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From there, the lander will spend 45 days in space before landing on the Moon's surface to conduct its research.

SpaceX has sent Japanese and U.S. lunar landers on separate missions in a major step in the race to commercialize the Moon.

Live coverage of Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1 launch. The mission will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The Blue Ghost lander will take about 45 days to reach the Moon,

A SpaceX rocket set to launch overnight will carry two lunar landers, one from Austin-based Firefly Aerospace and one from Japan’s ispace.

Two robotic landers are set to begin their journeys to the moon Wednesday morning, when they launch aboard a SpaceX rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Just after midnight Wednesday, a SpaceX rocket is scheduled to lift off, carrying a pair of lunar landers that will try to touch down on the moon in the coming months. One was built by a Japanese company and the other was built by a Texas company.