Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander successfully touched down on the moon, becoming the first private company to land a spacecraft upright without crashing.
By Aniket Chakraborty
Mar 3, 2025
The four-legged lander, standing 6'6" tall and 11' wide, landed in a volcanic region called Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises) on the moon's northeastern edge.
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NASA paid Firefly $101 million for delivery plus $44 million for the science equipment onboard as part of their commercial lunar delivery program.
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Blue Ghost carries 10 experiments including a vacuum to collect moon dirt, a drill to measure temperatures 10 feet below the surface, and a device to eliminate abrasive lunar dust.
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The lander sent back stunning images of Earth and the moon's surface, including a "selfie" and a shot showing Earth as a blue dot in space.
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Blue Ghost will operate for approximately two weeks (one lunar day) before lunar nighttime ends its mission.
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This successful landing follows Intuitive Machines' partial success earlier in 2024 when their lander toppled over upon touchdown.
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Two more private landers are following Blue Ghost to the moon soon - another from Intuitive Machines landing Thursday and a Japanese ispace lander arriving in three months.
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The mission represents growing commercial interest in lunar exploration, with NASA planning to support two private moon landings annually.
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On March 14, Blue Ghost is expected to capture high-definition imagery of a total eclipse when Earth blocks the sun above the Moon's horizon.