A U.S. company has successfully landed its spacecraft on the moon, becoming only the second private entity to accomplish this feat—and the first to do so in an upright position.
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 touched down at 3:34 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time on Sunday near Mons Latreille, a volcanic formation in Mare Crisium on the moon’s northeastern near side. The lander’s first image showcased the rugged, cratered terrain it had to autonomously navigate, slowing from thousands of miles per hour to just 2 mph before touchdown.
Nicknamed “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” the mission is part of a NASA-industry collaboration aimed at lowering lunar exploration costs and supporting Artemis, the program designed to return astronauts to the moon.
The golden lander—roughly the size of a hippopotamus—launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on January 15, capturing breathtaking footage of Earth and the moon along its 2.8-million-mile journey. It shared the ride with a Japanese lander set to attempt its own moon landing in May.
Equipped with 10 scientific instruments, Blue Ghost carries a lunar soil analyzer, a radiation-resistant computer, and an experiment testing whether the global satellite navigation system can function on the moon. Designed to operate for one full lunar day (14 Earth days), it is set to capture high-definition images of a total eclipse on March 14, when Earth will block the Sun from the moon’s horizon.
On March 16, the lander will record a lunar sunset, helping scientists study how dust levitates above the surface under solar influence—an effect responsible for the mysterious lunar horizon glow first observed by Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan.
