Firefly Aerospace has successfully landed its Blue Ghost 1 lunar lander on the surface of the Moon, marking a major achievement for the company and NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The historic touchdown occurred at 3:34 a.m. EST, following a smooth hour-long descent from lunar orbit.
The Blue Ghost 1 lander casting a shadow on the lunar surface after touching down. Credit: Firefly Aerospace
The Texas-based aerospace company confirmed the success in a celebratory announcement:
"We have confirmation—#BlueGhost stuck the landing! This small step on the Moon represents a giant leap in commercial exploration. Congratulations to the entire Firefly team, our mission partners, and our @NASA customers for this incredible feat that paves the way for future missions to the Moon and Mars."
A Precise and Stable Landing
Blue Ghost 1 touched down upright and stable in Mare Crisium, a vast lunar basin in the Moon's northeastern quadrant. The site was carefully chosen to minimize the risk of interference from magnetic anomalies and to ensure a favorable environment for scientific instruments.
Firefly Aerospace CEO Jason Kim praised the team’s flawless execution, saying, “Everything was as planned. From my observation, the team just nailed it.” Spacecraft Program Director Ray Allensworth echoed his sentiments, adding that the landing was well within the designated 100-
meter target ellipse, a testament to the mission’s precision.
Firefly Aerospace’s team in its mission operations center celebrates the successful touchdown of its first Blue Ghost lunar lander on the Moon on Sunday, March 2, 2025. Image: Firefly Aerospace via livestream
Blue Ghost’s Mission and Scientific Objectives
The lander is carrying 10 scientific payloads under NASA’s $101.5 million CLPS contract. These instruments will study various aspects of the Moon’s surface and environment, including:
- Subsurface heat flow and lunar composition
- The interaction between the solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field
- Lunar regolith behavior and material interactions
- Radiation-tolerant computing technologies
- An electrodynamic dust shield for lunar surface operations
Firefly expects Blue Ghost to operate through lunar sunset on March 16, providing 14 days of continuous science and technology demonstrations. The mission team is already working to activate the lander’s powered payloads while deploying an X-band antenna for high-data-rate communications.
A New Era for Commercial Lunar Landers
Firefly Aerospace’s success represents a breakthrough for commercial spaceflight, as Blue Ghost 1 is the first fully successful commercial lunar lander. While Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 lander reached the Moon in February 2024, it experienced a hard landing and tipped onto its side, limiting its functionality.
NASA officials celebrated Firefly’s achievement as a major validation of the CLPS program, which aims to foster a commercial lunar economy by leveraging private industry for lunar exploration. Joel Kearns, NASA’s Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration, praised Firefly’s rigorous approach: “We asked these companies to do a really, really difficult thing, and Firefly delivered.”
Firefly’s Lunar Ambitions
The success of Blue Ghost 1 paves the way for future lunar missions, including Blue Ghost 2, scheduled for 2026. That mission will include a far-side lunar lander and an Elytra orbital vehicle to support ESA’s Lunar Pathfinder mission. Firefly has also secured a $179.6 million contract for Blue Ghost 3, which will target the Gruithuisen Domes region.
For Firefly Aerospace, this successful lunar landing is more than just a milestone—it’s a stepping stone toward even greater ambitions, including missions to Mars and beyond. As CEO Jason Kim put it, “We just opened the whole company up to do things in LEO, MEO, GEO, cislunar, and the Moon. And furthermore, the lander is also scalable to go to Mars.”
With hugs, high-fives, and cheers erupting from mission control, Firefly Aerospace has cemented its place in history, proving that commercial spaceflight is ready to take humanity further into the cosmos.
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Absolutely incredible job. Congrats Firefly,inc