WASHINGTON, D.C.: A historic private mission to land on the moon faced near-certain failure on Monday after the spacecraft suffered a 'critical loss' of fuel, dealing a major blow to America's hopes of placing its first robot on the lunar surface in five decades.

Fixed to the top of United Launch Alliance's new Vulcan Centaur rocket, which was making its first flight, Astrobotic Technology Inc.'s Peregrine Lunar Lander blasted off overnight from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, then successfully separated from its launch vehicle.