The first UAE-built rover and Japanese lander has been launched to the moon by SpaceX

Two more countries will join the moon club soon at once.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sunday morning at 2:38 a.m. EST. It took to space the first private Japanese moon lander HAKUTO-R carrying a United Arab Emirates rover on board and a NASA tiny satellite.

The 10 kilograms (22 pounds) robot is called 'Rashid' and it is the first-ever moon rover for UAE. After deploying from Hakuto-R, Rashid will take photos with a bunch of cameras and characterize the moon's curios electrically charged surface environment. The whole mission is expected to last one lunar day, which equals 14 Earth days.

It would be a huge achievement for UAE, Japan, and the private space industry. Before the mission, only state-owned space agencies of the United States, the Soviet Union, and China have soft landings on the lunar surface.

This is the first mission for Tokyo-based company ispace. If all goes as planned, Hakuto-R will make a soft lunar landing next spring. It'll mark the first time Japan made an interplanetary landing.

As ispace founder and CEO told Space.com last month, the mission will be opening a door for the "commercial cislunar industry".

Eight minutes after launch the first stage of SpaceX Falcon 9 came back for a landing at Cape Canaveral. At the same time rocket's upper stage successfully deployed Hakuto-R and then ejected a tiny NASA moon probe called Lunar Flashlight.

That's a CubeSat type of probe – it has the size of a briefcase and will also make its way to the moon. It would help NASA with the Artemis program to establish a sustainable human presence on and around the moon. Lunar Flashlight will hunt for water ice in shadowed craters near the moon's south pole. The probe will flashlight the moon – shining lasers into dark craters to look  for signs of water ice covered by lunar regolith.