Firefly Aerospace, a United States-based private space company, has successfully landed its Blue Ghost spacecraft on the moon for a two-week research mission amid a race between a handful of private firms.
The touchdown took place at 3:35am US East Coast time (08:35 GMT) on Sunday in the Mare Crisium region, a prominent lunar basin visible from Earth.
Firefly becomes the second private firm to achieve a moon landing with the company declaring itself the first to make a “fully successful” soft landing.
Houston-based Intuitive Machines had a lopsided hard landing last year with its Odysseus lunar lander, which came out mostly intact but many of its onboard instruments were damaged.
The Firefly mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services programme, which seeks to leverage private industry to support the agency’s return to the moon. Blue Ghost carried 10 scientific and technological payloads, including NASA instruments designed to study lunar dust, radiation and surface materials.
Key instruments on board will measure the moon’s internal heat flow and prevent lunar dust accumulation on equipment and include a retroreflector for laser-ranging experiments.
The spacecraft was launched on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Kennedy Space Center on January 15.
Firefly plans to follow up with two additional Blue Ghost missions in 2026 and 2028, both of which are expected to deliver more scientific payloads and support NASA’s long-term lunar objectives.
Acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro said at Firefly’s landing event on Sunday that the moon remains part of the US goal to “dominate” space.
The success underscores the growing role of private companies in space exploration as NASA and other agencies increasingly rely on commercial partners to achieve scientific and technological breakthroughs.
A host of other countries are also advancing their own lunar efforts, including China with its robotic Chang’e programme and plans to put Chinese astronauts on the moon’s surface by 2030.
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