As expected, Astrobotic stopped receiving telemetry data from the Peregrine spacecraft on Thursday at around 15:50 East Coast time (at 23:50 Moscow time). Although this indicates that the spacecraft completed a controlled re-entry into the atmosphere over open water in the South Pacific Ocean on Thursday at 16:04 East Coast time (Friday at 00:04 Moscow time), we are awaiting independent confirmation from government authorities.
Peregrine was supposed to be the first commercial lunar lander and the first American spacecraft to land on the moon more than 50 years after the Apollo missions. However, everything did not go according to plan: six hours after launch, the operators reported a critical fuel leak. Later, the company admitted that the lander would not be able to complete its mission, so it was decided to send the ship back to Earth.
On board the Peregrine was equipment for scientific programs, as well as the ashes of the creator of the original Star Trek series Gene Roddenberry, his wife Majel Barrett, who played Nurse Chapel, and three other actors of the series: DeForest Kelly (played by doctor Leonard McCoy), Nichelle Nichols (Nyota Uhura) and James Doohan (Scotty). All this burned up in the Earth's atmosphere.
