Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost mission achieved a historic first: a successful lunar landing by a private company. The mission, launched in January 2024, touched down at Mare Crisium on March 2, 2024. This is a significant accomplishment, marking a new milestone in private space exploration.
The mission carried 10 science and technology instruments for NASA as part of the Artemis program. NASA's acting administrator, Janet Petro, hailed the achievement as a demonstration of US leadership in space exploration. The data gathered will improve future space exploration strategies and ensure the safety of spacecraft instruments for both short and long-term missions.
While Blue Ghost is the first successful private lunar landing, other companies like Intuitive Machines have attempted similar feats. Intuitive Machine's previous attempt failed, with the module landing on its side. This successful mission by Firefly Aerospace highlights the progress of the private sector in space exploration.
The Blue Ghost module's work is ongoing. It will operate for one lunar day (14 Earth days), collecting data about the lunar environment to support future human explorations of the Moon and Mars. Immediately after landing, the module transmitted its first images back to Earth.
With its Blue Ghost lunar module, Texas-based Firefly Aerospace has just achieved what no other private company, anywhere in the world, has ever accomplished: successfully landing on the surface of the moon.
Having launched in January, the Blue Ghost Mission 1 touched down at Mare Crisium, in the vicinity of a mountain called Mons Latreille, at 3:34 am Eastern Time on Sunday March 2. NASA reports that the Blue Ghost lander is in a stable, vertical position.
“This incredible achievement demonstrates how NASA and US companies are leading the way in space exploration for the benefit of all,” Janet Petro, NASA’s acting administrator, said in a statement on March 2. “We have already learned many lessons, and the technology and science demonstrations aboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost 1 Mission will enhance our ability to not only discover more science but also to ensure the safety of the instruments on our spacecraft for future human exploration, both near and long term.”
Blue Ghost is not the first privately led mission to reach the lunar surface. That honor goes to Intuitive Machines, another Texas-based company, which attempted to land on the moon in February 2024; however, its module fell onto its side on the surface and ceased to be operational. (Intuitive Machines will get another chance on March 6, with its Athena lunar module, which launched last month.) Other companies have also tried, but their spacecraft ended up crashing.
Firefly’s lander still has plenty of work ahead of it. The Blue Ghost module is carrying 10 science and technology instruments for NASA, which will operate on the surface for one lunar day, the equivalent of 14 days on Earth. As part of the NASA’s Artemis program, which will return humans to the lunar surface for the first time since 1972, Blue Ghost’s mission aims to learn more about the lunar environment, to support astronauts in future explorations of the moon and Mars. Moments after touchdown, the module captured its first images, which were shared by NASA and Firefly on their official accounts.
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