A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket blared toward space Wednesday carrying a pair of lunar landers on a journey to our closest celestial neighbor — kicking off what’s expected to be a bustling year of moon missions amid a renewed race to establish a long-term human presence on the lunar surface.

Wednesday’s launch was the first to send two landers to the moon on the same rocket and carried some components built in Canada, among other global contractors

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched lunar landers to the moon for two commercial missions on Wednesday, January 15.