The lander of Texas-based rocket and spacecraft builder Firefly Aerospace has begun a 45-day trip to the moon.

The spacecraft built and operated by Texas-based Firefly Aerospace launched in the early Monday hours from Florida aboard a SpaceX rocket.

Two moon landers, one from Japan's ispace and another from U.S. space firm Firefly, lifted off on Wednesday from Florida on a SpaceX rocket in an unusual double moonshot launch, underscoring the global rush to peruse the lunar surface.