Iris Rover Team Prepares for May Launch

May the Fourth be with you. Carnegie Mellon University will have its eyes on the sky on May 4, and not because of Star Wars. Iris , a tiny, lightweight lunar rover built by CMU students, and the MoonArk, a collaborative sculpture project led by faculty, students and alumni, are set to launch on Thursday, May 4. United Launch Alliance (ULA), whose Vulcan Centaur rocket will carry the two university projects to the moon, announced the date as the earliest possible launch date. "Hundreds of students have poured thousands of hours into Iris. We've worked for years toward this mission, and to have a launch date on the calendar is an exciting step," said Raewyn Duvall (pictured) , commander of the Iris mission. "Iris will open up lunar and space exploration by proving that a tiny, lightweight rover built by students can succeed on the moon." Iris and MoonArk will both travel aboard the Peregrine lunar lander, which will fly on the ULA rocket.