Firefly Aerospace's first lunar lander. First commercial company to achieve a fully successful lunar soft landing.
Blue Ghost Mission 1 made history on March 2, 2025, when Firefly Aerospace's lander touched down at Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises), becoming the first commercial company to achieve a fully successful soft landing on the Moon. Unlike the previous commercial attempts by Intuitive Machines (which tipped) and Astrobotic (which failed to reach the Moon), Blue Ghost landed upright and operated nominally.
The mission carried 10 NASA science and technology payloads under the CLPS program, studying everything from the lunar regolith to the space radiation environment. Blue Ghost transmitted over 119 GB of scientific data during its 14-day operational period on the lunar surface — a full lunar day.
One of the mission's most striking achievements was capturing the first commercial images of a solar eclipse as seen from the Moon's surface, when Earth passed between the Sun and Moon during the mission. The lander ceased operations around March 16 as lunar night fell and temperatures dropped below the spacecraft's survival limits.
Demonstrate a precision soft landing and fully upright surface operations, proving the commercial lunar delivery model under CLPS.
Transport and operate 10 NASA science instruments, the most payloads delivered by a single CLPS mission to date.
Operate for a complete 14-day lunar day cycle, maximizing science return and demonstrating sustained surface operations.
Characterize the lunar surface environment at Mare Crisium including regolith properties, radiation levels, and thermal conditions.
Test several new technologies including advanced navigation, power management, and communications systems for future missions.
Blue Ghost landed upright at Mare Crisium on March 2, 2025, achieving what no commercial company had before — a fully successful soft landing on the Moon. The lander operated nominally for the entire 14-day lunar day, transmitting over 119 GB of scientific data from its 10 NASA payloads.
A highlight was capturing the first commercial images of a solar eclipse from the lunar surface. The mission ended around March 16 when lunar night brought temperatures below the spacecraft's survival limits. Firefly's success validated the CLPS program model and demonstrated that commercial companies could reliably deliver and operate payloads on the Moon.
Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander touched down at Mare Crisium at 3:34 AM EST, becoming the first commercial company to achieve a fully successful lunar soft landing. The mission transmitted over 119 GB of data during 14 days of surface operations.
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