New York: An American company successfully landed its spacecraft on the Moon as Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 lunar lander touched down near Mons Latreille, a volcanic formation in Mare Crisium region on the Moon’s northeastern near side.
The perfect landing of Blue Ghost, on contract from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was recorded around 2.15 pm IST on Sunday. It’s only the second private mission to land on Moon, and the first to do so upright, reports AFP.
“Y’all stuck the landing, we’re on the Moon,” an engineer at mission control in Austin, Texas, yelled as the team erupted in cheers.
We’re baaack! 🌕
Blue Ghost has landed, safely delivering 10 NASA scientific investigations and tech demos that will help us learn more about the lunar environment and support future astronauts on the Moon and Mars. pic.twitter.com/guugFdsXY3
— NASA (@NASA) March 2, 2025
Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace, confirmed that the spacecraft was “stable and upright”, in contrast to the first private landing in February, which came down sideways.
“On behalf of our entire team, I want to thank NASA for entrusting Firefly as their lunar delivery provider. Blue Ghost’s successful Moon landing has laid the groundwork for the future of commercial exploration across cislunar space,” Kim said.
The mission
Nicknamed ‘Ghost Riders in the Sky’, the mission is part of a NASA-industry partnership aimed at reducing costs and supporting Artemis, the programme designed to return astronauts to the Moon.
Blue Ghost, which is carrying 10 NASA payloads as part of Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) programme, also aims to enhance scientists’ understanding of the lunar environment.
The 10 instruments include a lunar soil analyser, a radiation-tolerant computer and an experiment testing the feasibility of using the existing global satellite navigation system to navigate the Moon.
How long will it operate?
The lander will operate for approximately one lunar day, which is equivalent to 14 Earth days.
In that period, Blue Ghost will conduct scientific investigations and technology demonstrations, including capturing the phenomenon of lunar horizon glow, a sight last observed by Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan over 50 years ago.
Blue Ghost is expected to capture high-definition imagery of a total eclipse on March 14, when Earth will block the Sun from the Moon’s horizon.
On March 16, Blue Ghost will record a lunar sunset, offering insights into how dust levitates above the surface under solar influence — creating the mysterious lunar horizon glow.
The golden lander, which is about the size of a hippopotamus, was launched on January 15 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, capturing stunning footage of Earth and the Moon along the way. It shared a ride with a Japanese company’s lander which will attempt a landing on Moon in May.
In February 2024, Intuitive Machines was the first private company to achieve a soft lunar landing, also the first US landing since the 1972 Apollo 17 crew mission.
However, last year’s mission had to be cut short as the lander came down too fast and tipped over on impact.
India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission was successful in landing on Moon in August 2023 — for the first time on lunar South pole.
