Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1
Last Sunday, Firefly, an American private company, successfully landed a spacecraft on the Moon, marking only the second private mission to achieve this milestone.
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 touched down at 3:34 am US Eastern Time (0834 GMT) near Mons Latreille, a volcanic formation in Mare Crisium on the Moon’s north-eastern near side.
The mission control team in Austin, Texas, erupted in cheers as CEO Jason Kim confirmed that the spacecraft was “stable and upright.” Blue Ghost’s program manager, Ray Allensworth, highlighted the precision of the landing, noting it touched down within 100 meters of its target. That stood in stark contrast to the first private lunar landing last February, which toppled over upon arrival, dulling the achievement of being the first US Moon touchdown since the crewed Apollo 17 mission of 1972.
“We’re on the Moon!” exclaimed Nicky Fox, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “We did do two hazard avoidance maneuvers on the way down — that tells us that our software worked exactly as it needed to,” she told reporters.
The first image from the lander revealed rugged, pockmarked terrain that Blue Ghost had to autonomously navigate during its final descent, slowing from thousands of miles per hour to just two mph.
Buzz Aldrin
95-year-old Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin joined the celebration from home, posting his congratulations on X along with a video of himself in pajamas, beaming and flashing a thumbs-up at the webcast.