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Blue Ghost Mission 1
Blue Ghost Mission 1 was a robotic Moon landing mission by Firefly Aerospace (Firefly) that launched on January 15, 2025, and soft-landed on the lunar surface on March 2, 2025, at 08:34 UTC. Firefly thus became the first commercial company to complete a fully successful soft landing on the Moon. As part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, the mission delivered ten scientific and technological experiments to advance future human exploration under the Artemis program. About 5 hours after lunar sunset on March 16, 2025, the solar-powered lander's batteries depleted and communications were lost. The mission's end was officially declared at 23:25 UTC.
The Blue Ghost lunar lander was launched from Kennedy Space Center using a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket that also carried the Hakuto-R Mission 2 lander. It delivered 10 payloads to Mare Crisium, a 500-kilometer-wide (310 mi) lunar basin. Its 60-day mission aimed to analyze lunar regolith, study geophysical characteristics, and investigate interactions between the solar wind and Earth's magnetic field. The lander's scientific payloads included a regolith adherence characterization experiment, a lunar retroreflector for precision distance measurements, a radiation-tolerant computer, thermal exploration probes, and more.
All 10 NASA payloads (including GNSS tracking, heliospheric X-ray imaging, magnetotelluric sounder, and a radiation‑tolerant computer) powered on, collected data, and transmitted over 110 GB back to Earth.
On February 4, 2021, NASA awarded Firefly a contract worth US$93.3 million to deliver a suite of ten science investigations and technology demonstrations to the Moon in 2023. The award was part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, in which NASA is securing the service of commercial partners to quickly land science and technology payloads on the lunar surface as part of the Artemis program.
On May 20, 2021, Firefly announced its selection of SpaceX's Falcon 9 Block 5 as the launch vehicle for the inaugural Blue Ghost lunar lander mission. This decision was made due to the Falcon 9's performance and payload capacity, which Firefly's Alpha rocket could not provide. The company indicated that its future Medium Launch Vehicle would support subsequent Blue Ghost missions.
Development milestones for the Blue Ghost lander progressed over the following years. On April 26, 2022, Firefly completed the Integration Readiness Review for the lander, with a tentative launch date set for 2024. In November 2023, Firefly refined the schedule, specifying a launch window between the third and fourth quarters of 2024.
By May 2024, the Nammo UK LEROS 4-ET engines for Blue Ghost were completed, and their integration into the lander was confirmed in June. Firefly announced that preparations were proceeding as planned, with the company reaffirming a Q4 2024 launch target in July. Environmental testing of the lander commenced in August at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), ensuring the spacecraft's readiness for flight.
In November 2024, Firefly announced that the Blue Ghost lander was fully prepared for launch, setting a mid-January 2025 launch date. Payload encapsulation was completed on January 10, marking one of the final steps in the pre-launch sequence. On January 15, 2025, the Blue Ghost lander successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A at 06:11:39 UTC (1:11:39 a.m.EST, local time at the launch site) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket. The mission also included Hakuto-R Mission 2 as a co-manifested payload.
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Blue Ghost Mission 1
Blue Ghost Mission 1 was a robotic Moon landing mission by Firefly Aerospace (Firefly) that launched on January 15, 2025, and soft-landed on the lunar surface on March 2, 2025, at 08:34 UTC. Firefly thus became the first commercial company to complete a fully successful soft landing on the Moon. As part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, the mission delivered ten scientific and technological experiments to advance future human exploration under the Artemis program. About 5 hours after lunar sunset on March 16, 2025, the solar-powered lander's batteries depleted and communications were lost. The mission's end was officially declared at 23:25 UTC.
The Blue Ghost lunar lander was launched from Kennedy Space Center using a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket that also carried the Hakuto-R Mission 2 lander. It delivered 10 payloads to Mare Crisium, a 500-kilometer-wide (310 mi) lunar basin. Its 60-day mission aimed to analyze lunar regolith, study geophysical characteristics, and investigate interactions between the solar wind and Earth's magnetic field. The lander's scientific payloads included a regolith adherence characterization experiment, a lunar retroreflector for precision distance measurements, a radiation-tolerant computer, thermal exploration probes, and more.
All 10 NASA payloads (including GNSS tracking, heliospheric X-ray imaging, magnetotelluric sounder, and a radiation‑tolerant computer) powered on, collected data, and transmitted over 110 GB back to Earth.
On February 4, 2021, NASA awarded Firefly a contract worth US$93.3 million to deliver a suite of ten science investigations and technology demonstrations to the Moon in 2023. The award was part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, in which NASA is securing the service of commercial partners to quickly land science and technology payloads on the lunar surface as part of the Artemis program.
On May 20, 2021, Firefly announced its selection of SpaceX's Falcon 9 Block 5 as the launch vehicle for the inaugural Blue Ghost lunar lander mission. This decision was made due to the Falcon 9's performance and payload capacity, which Firefly's Alpha rocket could not provide. The company indicated that its future Medium Launch Vehicle would support subsequent Blue Ghost missions.
Development milestones for the Blue Ghost lander progressed over the following years. On April 26, 2022, Firefly completed the Integration Readiness Review for the lander, with a tentative launch date set for 2024. In November 2023, Firefly refined the schedule, specifying a launch window between the third and fourth quarters of 2024.
By May 2024, the Nammo UK LEROS 4-ET engines for Blue Ghost were completed, and their integration into the lander was confirmed in June. Firefly announced that preparations were proceeding as planned, with the company reaffirming a Q4 2024 launch target in July. Environmental testing of the lander commenced in August at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), ensuring the spacecraft's readiness for flight.
In November 2024, Firefly announced that the Blue Ghost lander was fully prepared for launch, setting a mid-January 2025 launch date. Payload encapsulation was completed on January 10, marking one of the final steps in the pre-launch sequence. On January 15, 2025, the Blue Ghost lander successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A at 06:11:39 UTC (1:11:39 a.m.EST, local time at the launch site) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket. The mission also included Hakuto-R Mission 2 as a co-manifested payload.