Peregrine, aiming to be first private lunar lander, burns up in Earth's atmosphere

An early malfunction left the Peregrine lander with no way to reach the moon.

After languishing in space for more than a week, a doomed moon lander met a fiery end Thursday, burning up in Earth’s atmosphere to end its mission.

The privately built spacecraft, named Peregrine, was designed to journey to the moon and settle on the lunar surface. But shortly after launching into orbit Jan. 8, the lander suffered a critical propellant leak that forced its operators to scrap the entire mission.

Astrobotic Technology, a Pittsburgh-based company that developed the lander, said Thursday that the hobbled spacecraft safely burned up in Earth’s atmosphere around 4:04 p.m. ET over a remote stretch of the South Pacific Ocean.