Firefly Aerospace Successfully Lands Blue Ghost on the Moon, Achieving Major Private Spaceflight Milestone

WASHINGTON, March 2 — A U.S. company successfully landed its spacecraft on the Moon on Sunday, becoming only the second private mission to achieve this milestone—and the first to land upright.

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 touched down at 3:34 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time (0834 GMT) near Mons Latreille, a volcanic formation in Mare Crisium, located on the Moon’s northeastern near side.

"Y’all stuck the landing, we’re on the Moon!" an engineer at mission control in Austin, Texas, announced as the team erupted in cheers.

Firefly CEO Jason Kim confirmed that the spacecraft was "stable and upright", unlike the first private mission in February 2024, which landed sideways.

"We're on the Moon!" exclaimed Nicky Fox, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

The first image from Blue Ghost revealed the rugged, cratered terrain it autonomously navigated before selecting its landing site—slowing from thousands of miles per hour to just two mph before touchdown.

Nicknamed “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” the mission is part of a NASA-industry partnership aimed at reducing costs and supporting the Artemis program, which seeks to return astronauts to the Moon.

A Historic Journey

The golden lander, roughly the size of a hippopotamus, launched on January 15 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, capturing breathtaking footage of Earth and the Moon during its 2.8 million-mile journey.

It shared the ride with a Japanese lander, which is set to attempt a lunar landing in May.

Blue Ghost carries 10 scientific instruments, including:

A lunar soil analyzer

A radiation-tolerant computer

An experiment testing the feasibility of using Earth’s global satellite navigation system (GPS) to navigate the Moon

Designed to operate for one lunar day (14 Earth days), the lander is expected to capture high-definition images of a total solar eclipse on March 14, when Earth will block the Sun from the Moon’s horizon.

On March 16, it will record a lunar sunset, offering insights into how moon dust levitates above the surface under solar influence—a phenomenon first documented by Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan.

Next Up: Intuitive Machines’ Athena Mission

Blue Ghost’s arrival will be followed by Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission on March 6, featuring its lander Athena.

In February 2024, Intuitive Machines became the first private company to achieve a soft lunar landing—also marking the first U.S. Moon landing since Apollo 17 in 1972.

However, that mission faced a critical mishap: the lander landed too fast, tipped over, and was unable to generate enough solar power, shortening the mission’s duration.

For this new mission, Intuitive Machines has redesigned Athena, giving it a taller, slimmer profile than Blue Ghost. The lander, standing about as tall as an adult giraffe, launched on February 28 aboard a SpaceX rocket, taking a more direct route to Mons Mouton—the southernmost lunar landing site ever attempted.

Athena’s payload includes:

Three robotic rovers

A drill to search for ice deposits

A first-of-its-kind hopping drone, designed to explore the Moon’s rugged terrain

NASA’s Private Lunar Fleet

Landing on the Moon presents unique challenges, as the lack of an atmosphere makes parachutes ineffective. Instead, spacecraft rely on precisely controlled thrusters to slow their descent.

Before Intuitive Machines’ first successful mission, only five national space agencies had achieved a Moon landing:

1. The Soviet Union

2. The United States

3. China

4. India

5. Japan

Now, the U.S. aims to make private lunar landings routine through NASA’s $2.6 billion Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

These missions come at a pivotal moment for NASA, amid speculation that it may scale back or even cancel the Artemis lunar program in favor of prioritizing Mars exploration—a key goal for both President Donald Trump and SpaceX founder Elon Musk. — AFP