Firefly Aerospace’s first attempt to land on the moon has been successful. The company, which is working with NASA as part of the Commercial Lunar Program (CLPS), announced early Sunday morning that its Blue Ghost lander has landed softly on the moon and is now upright and communicating with the team on Earth. Blue Ghost touched down at 3:34 a.m. EDT in a region known as Mare Crisium. While the Firefly lander is not the first commercial spacecraft to land on the moon, it is the first to land properly – last year, Intuitive Machines’ Odyssey ended up on its side after a faster-than-planned descent.
Blue Ghost and the NASA instruments it carries are expected to operate for about 14 Earth days. After that, the lunar night will begin. If all goes according to plan, the lander will take pictures on the eve of the lunar night and a few hours after dark, capturing high-definition images of the total eclipse, moonset, and other moments to document the behavior of levitating lunar dust. NASA is also testing instruments that can drill and collect samples from the surface.
Firefly Blue Ghost Mission 1 launched on January 15 and reached lunar orbit about a month later. The team says it has already sent more than 27 GB of data back to Earth from its journey. “While still flying to the moon, the Firefly mission has already transmitted the most scientific data for NASA’s CLPS initiative,” said Shea Ferring, Firefly’s CTO, noting that the most challenging part of the mission is now behind us. On X, the company shared a photo showing the shadow of the lander on the lunar surface after its successful landing and joked: “The lander has seen its shadow, 2 more weeks of work!”
