A United States-based company has successfully landed its spacecraft on the Moon, marking only the second private mission to achieve this milestone—and the first to do so while remaining upright. Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 touched down at 3:34 AM Eastern Time (0834 GMT) near Mons Latreille, a volcanic structure in Mare Crisium, located on the Moon’s northeastern near side.
The mission control team, based in Austin, Texas, erupted in celebration as Firefly Aerospace’s CEO, Jason Kim, confirmed that the spacecraft had landed stably and upright. This achievement stands in contrast to the previous private lunar landing in February 2024, which, although successful, ended with the spacecraft tipping over upon arrival. That mission had been the first American lunar touchdown since Apollo 17 in 1972.
“We’re on the Moon!” Nicky Fox, Associate Administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, declared enthusiastically. Meanwhile, Ray Allensworth, Blue Ghost’s program manager, highlighted the accuracy of the landing, revealing that the spacecraft touched down within 100 meters of its intended target. “We executed two hazard-avoidance maneuvers during descent, proving that our software functioned exactly as planned,” she told reporters.
Shortly after landing, Blue Ghost sent back its first image, revealing a rugged, cratered landscape that it had autonomously navigated during its descent. The lander successfully slowed down from thousands of miles per hour to just two mph for a precise touchdown.
Buzz Aldrin Joins Celebration as Blue Ghost Advances Lunar Science
Buzz Aldrin, the legendary Apollo 11 astronaut, celebrated from home, posting a congratulatory message on X (formerly Twitter). The 95-year-old shared a video of himself in pajamas, smiling and giving a thumbs-up as he watched the webcast of the historic event.
Nicknamed “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” the mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, a $2.6 billion partnership with private industry aimed at reducing costs and advancing the Artemis program, which seeks to return astronauts to the Moon.
Blue Ghost’s Mission & Scientific Goals
The golden lander, roughly the size of a hippopotamus, was launched on January 15 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. During its 2.8-million-mile (4.5-million-kilometer) journey, it captured stunning footage of Earth and the Moon. It shared its launch with a Japanese company’s lander, which is scheduled to attempt its own lunar landing in May.
Blue Ghost carries 10 scientific instruments, including a lunar soil analyzer, a radiation-tolerant computer, and an experiment to test the feasibility of using Earth’s global satellite navigation system (GPS) for lunar navigation. The lander is designed to function for a full lunar day (14 Earth days) and is expected to capture high-definition footage of a total eclipse on March 14, when Earth will block sunlight from reaching the Moon.
On March 16, the lander will record a lunar sunset, gathering data on how dust particles behave under solar radiation—an effect first observed by Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan, who noted a mysterious “lunar horizon glow”.
Upcoming Lunar Missions & Future Exploration
Following Blue Ghost, Texas-based Intuitive Machines is set to launch its IM-2 mission on March 6, featuring its new lander, Athena. This follows the company’s IM-1 mission in February 2024, which, despite successfully reaching the Moon, landed at an excessive speed, causing it to tip over upon touchdown and shorten its operational lifespan.
The success of Firefly Aerospace’s mission marks another significant step in commercial lunar exploration, bringing NASA and private industry closer to a sustainable human presence on the Moon.
