The lander is 8.5 feet by 7.5 feet (2.6 meters by 2.3 meters) when fully unfolded.

Liftoff took place at 12:38 a.m.

ET (11:38 p.m. Saturday PT).

Hakamada added that the company is hoping to contribute to the Artemis program.

The US space agency has already committed tobuying moon rocksthat M1 will collect.

Thecompany confirmedon Sunday it had established a stable communications link with the lander.

But it did raise funds to continue on its own and secure some customers with similar lunar ambitions.

That’s how a rover named Rashid from the UAE’s space program wound up on board M1.

Rashid is set to study moon dust and will send images and data back to Earth.