Last March 2 The moon landing of the Blue Ghost Mission 1 spacecraft of Firefly Aerospace was announced. According to NASA information, its launch took place on January 15 from the Kennedy Space Center.
“This incredible achievement demonstrates how NASA and US companies are leading the way in space exploration for the benefit of all,” said Janet Petro, NASA’s interim administrator.
This mission became The second to achieve this milestone and the first one that manages to alunize vertically. According to NASA data, the Blue Ghost Mission 1 of Firefly Aerospace He traveled more than 4.5 million kilometers, transmitted more than 27 gigabytes of data and supported several scientific operations.
The scientific entity affirms that science and technology behind these missions prepare the way to inspire new generations for future explorations.
How was Blue Ghost’s moon landing?
Blue Ghost Mission 1 of Firefly Aerospace Alunizó near Mons Latreillea volcanic formation of the Mare Crisium, on the northeast face of the moon.
“Perunidate perfect, we arrived at the moon,” exclaimed an engineer from the control of the mission in Austin, Texas, while the entire team exploded for joy.
The company’s executive president, Jason Kim, confirmed that the aircraft was “stable and vertical“, compared to the ship of the first private mission made in February, which fed aside.
“We are on the moon!” Nicky Fox, associated administrator of the NASA Scientific Missions Directorate celebrated.
Nicknamed Ghost Riders in the Sky (Ghost riders in heaven), as an old and popular American country song, the mission is part of the collaboration between NASA and its industry partners to reduce costs and support Artemis, the program designed to send astronauts again to the moon.
This gold descent module, the size of a small car, was launched in January aboard a Falcon 9 rocket of the Spacex company, Elon Musk. During his 45 -day trip, he captured impressive images of the earth and his satellite.
Blue Ghost has ten scientific instruments, including one to analyze the lunar soilanother to test radiation tolerant computing and a GPS -based navigation system.
Designed to work during a complete moon day (14 terrestrial days), Blue Ghost is expected to capture high definition images of a total eclipse on March 14, when the earth blocks the sun of the moon horizon.
On March 16 he will record a lunar sunset And it will offer details about how the Levite dust on the surface under solar influence, creating the mysterious glow of the lunar horizon for the first time by the Eugene Cernan astronaut, of the Apollo mission.
Also read: Why Mars is red and other curiosities on this planet
Drone capable of jumping
The arrival of Blue Ghost will be followed on March 6 by the IM-2 mission, of the Tejana company intuitive machines, with its Athena landing module.
Last year, Intuitive Machines made history as the first private company to achieve smoothly, although the moment was tarnished by a accident.
When descending too fast, One of the feet of the landing module was hooked on the lunar surfacepouring it and making it side, which limited its ability to generate solar energy and shortened the mission.
But this time, the company says that it has made key improvements in the hexagonal shape module, which has a higher and thinner profile than Blue Ghost and the approximate height of an adult giraffe.
Athena departed on Wednesday aboard a Spacex rocket, taking a more direct route to Mons Mouton, the alunseous site to the south to which he has ever pointed out.
Carries an ambitious set of useful charges, Including a unique drone capable of jumping and designed to explore underground passages of the moon carved by old lava flowsa drill that can dig almost a meter under the surface in search of ice and three explorers.
Grace, the jumping drone baptized in honor of the Pioneer of the Grace Hopper computer science, the show could well be stolen if he manages to demonstrate that he can navigate the steep lunar terrain.
Watch Firefly Land On The Moon! After identifying surface hazards and selecting to Safe Landing Site, #Blueghost Landed Directly Over The Target in Mare Crisium. A Historic Moment On March 2 We’ll Never Forget. We have moon dust on Our boots! #BGM1 pic.twitter.com/02DQJZN0HL
– Firefly Aerospace (@firefly_Space) March 4, 2025
NASA’s private lunar fleet
Posing on the moon presents unique challenges due to the absence of atmosphere, which makes the parachutes ineffective. Instead, spacecraft must resort to precision controlled propellers to slow down the descent.
Until the success of the first mission of Intuitive Machines, only five national space agencies had achieved this feat: the Soviet Union, United States, China, India and Japanin that order.
The United States is working for private lunar missions to become routine through the Public-Private Program for Commercial Lunar Load Services (CLPS) of NASA, endowed with 2,600 million dollars.
These missions arrive at a crucial moment for the space agency, in the midst of speculation that it could reduce or even cancel its Lunar Artemis program in favor of prioritizing the exploration of Mars, a key objective of both the president Donald Trump As of his close advisor, the founder of Spacex Elon Musk.