Heracles: landing on the moon and returning home

ESA is leading an alliance of international space agencies to prepare a robotic mission to the Moon to retrieve samples and return them to Earth.

The video shows a launch on an Ariane 6 rocket, separation from the rocket boosters over Earth and a transfer to the Moon.

The Heracles lander will target a previously unexplored region near the lunar South Pole as an interesting area for researchers. A lander with a rover inside and ascent module on top will land there.   

Monitored and controlled from the lunar Gateway, the rover will scout the terrain in preparation for the future arrival of astronauts, and collect samples.