'Literally, figuratively over the moon': Firefly's Blue Ghost lands on lunar surface
The Blue Ghost lunar lander successfully touched down on the surface of the moon early Sunday morning, kicking off a two-week research mission and marking the latest lunar landing by a private U.S. company.
The robotic spacecraft, built by private upstart Firefly Aerospace, landed in an "upright, stable configuration" at approximately 3:35 a.m. ET near an ancient volcanic vent in Mare Crisium, a 300-mile-wide basin in the northeast quadrant of the moon's near side, the company said in an update on its mission blog. The event makes Firefly the second private company to achieve a soft moon landing.
“Firefly is literally and figuratively over the moon,” said Jason Kim, the CEO of Firefly Aerospace in a statement. "Our Blue Ghost lunar lander now has a permanent home on the lunar surface with 10 NASA payloads and a plaque with every Firefly employee’s name."
On board the lander are 10 NASA instruments that will be put to use over the course of a complete lunar day, equivalent to about 14 Earth days.
Firefly, based in Cedar Park, Texas, is the second commercial company NASA hired to develop, operate and land a spacecraft on the lunar surface. Houston-based Intuitive Machines made history in 2024, becoming the first private company whose spacecraft made a soft landing on the moon. The company launched a second lunar mission on Wednesday.
“This incredible achievement demonstrates how NASA and American companies are leading the way in space exploration for the benefit of all,” NASA acting administrator Janet Petro said in a statement. “We have already learned many lessons – and the technological and science demonstrations onboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 will improve our ability to not only discover more science, but to ensure the safety of our spacecraft instruments for future human exploration – both in the short term and long term.”
Journey to the surface of the moon
The Blue Ghost, a four-legged lander the size of a compact car, launched atop a SpaceX rocket on Jan. 15 and has logged more than 2.8 million miles to the moon.
After launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the spacecraft traveled on a winding path over three times around Earth before entering the moon's orbit and landing within Mare Crisium, which is believed to have been created by early volcanic eruptions more than 3 billion years ago.
As the lander entered lunar orbit, it captured stunning images of the moon's far side, an area not visible to Earth.
What's next for the Blue Ghost?
Now that the lander is on the moon's surface, the 10 NASA instruments aboard the spacecraft will begin a series of lunar operations, including subsurface drilling, sample collection, X-ray imaging and dust mitigation experiments, Firefly Aerospace said.
"The data captured will benefit humanity by providing insights into how space weather and other cosmic forces impact Earth," NASA said in a statement.
Later this month, the lander will capture high definition images of a total lunar eclipse, when the Earth blocks the sun above the moon's horizon, the company said. It will also document the lunar sunset "providing data on how lunar dust levitates due to solar influences and creates a lunar horizon glow" and capture images of the lunar night, the company said.
Contributing: Eric Lagatta, Paste BN; Reuters
(This story has been updated to add new information.)