The company’s Blue Ghost moon lander before shipping out for launch.
Firefly Aerospace
Another American company, Texas-based rocket and spacecraft builder Firefly Aerospace, is moon-bound.
Firefly’s “Blue Ghost” cargo lander launched from Florida early Wednesday morning on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket to begin a 45-day trip.
The space transportation company’s first moon mission comes as it looks to expand into the nascent, NASA-led market for lunar services.
“We’re now fully focused on execution as we look to complete our on-orbit operations, softly touch down on the lunar surface, and pave the way for humanity’s return to the Moon,” Firefly CEO Jason Kim said in a statement after the launch.
Firefly is best known for its Alpha rockets, which launch satellites into orbit. But the company in recent years expanded into building lunar landers and space tugs.
The nearly 7-foot-tall lander, named Blue Ghost after a rare firefly species in the U.S., is carrying 10 government and commercial payloads under a $101 million NASA contract.
Firefly’s “Ghost Riders in the Sky” mission is the third under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. CLPS aims to deliver science projects and cargo to the moon with increasing regularity in support of the agency’s Artemis crew program. Two other companies, Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines, each launched missions last year – the former’s fell short while the latter’s tipped on its side but survived the landing.
Blue Ghost stacked inside the rocket’s nosecone in preparation for launch.
SpaceX
Firefly outlined 17 milestones it hopes to achieve with Blue Ghost, with landing one of the final steps. So far, the company confirmed the mission has achieved five of those milestones, including the stages of launch and testing the spacecraft in orbit.
The mission is expected to land on March 2 and is targeting the lunar basin Mare Crisium on the moon’s near side. After touching down, Firefly aims to operate the lander for a full lunar day — which equates to about 14 days on Earth — as well as operate for several hours into the lunar night.
A rendering that depicts the Blue Ghost lander on the moon’s surface.
Firefly Aerospace
Notably, SpaceX’s rocket carried not just one, but two lunar landers on Wednesday morning’s launch.
Japanese company ispace is flying its second moon mission after its first crash-landed in 2023. While Firefly was the primary payload for the launch, ispace had previously booked a “rideshare” agreement with SpaceX, meaning its lander would end up hitching a ride.
And more moon attempts are on the way this year. NASA expects as many as five U.S. companies to launch lunar landing missions this year in 2025.
