AssetID: 54572071
Headline: RAW VIDEO: First Commercial Lunar Lander Successfully Touches Down On The Moon
Caption: The first ever lunar landing made by a commercial company has been achieved by Firefly Aerospace. Their Blue Ghost lunar lander successfully touched down on the Moon in an upright, stable position on its first attempt on 2 March 2025. "Firefly is literally and figuratively over the Moon," said Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace. "Our Blue Ghost lunar lander now has a permanent home on the lunar surface, carrying 10 NASA payloads and a plaque with every Firefly employee's name. This bold, unstoppable team has proven we are well equipped to deliver reliable, affordable access to the Moon, and we won't stop there. With annual lunar missions, Firefly is paving the way for a sustained lunar presence that will help unlock access to the rest of the solar system for our nation, our partners, and the world." Carrying 10 NASA instruments, Blue Ghost completed a precision landing in Mare Crisium at 2:34 a.m. CST on 2 March, touching down within its 100-metre landing target next to a volcanic feature known as Mons Latreille. The lander's shock-absorbing legs stabilised it upon touchdown, and inertial readings confirmed it is upright in a secure position. Following the landing, Firefly successfully established communication with the lander from its Mission Operations Centre in Cedar Park, Texas. Blue Ghost will now commence its surface operations, supporting several NASA science and technology demonstrations over the next 14 days – equivalent to a full lunar day. These activities include lunar subsurface drilling, sample collection, X-ray imaging, and dust mitigation experiments. On 14 March, Firefly expects to capture high-definition imagery of a total eclipse, when the Earth will block the Sun above the Moon's horizon. On 16 March, the lander will observe the lunar sunset, providing data on how solar influences cause lunar dust to levitate and create a horizon glow – a phenomenon first documented by astronaut Eugene Cernan during the Apollo 17 mission. Following sunset, Blue Ghost will continue to operate for several hours into the lunar night, capturing imagery to observe how dust behaviour changes in the absence of sunlight. "With the hardest part behind us, Firefly looks forward to completing more than 14 days of surface operations, again raising the bar for commercial cislunar capabilities," said Shea Ferring, Chief Technology Officer at Firefly Aerospace. "Even before landing, Firefly's mission has already delivered the most scientific data to date for the NASA CLPS initiative. CLPS has been instrumental in Firefly's transformation from a rocket company to a comprehensive provider of launch, lunar, and on-orbit services from low Earth orbit (LEO) to cislunar space and beyond. We thank NASA for placing its trust in the Firefly team and look forward to delivering even more data that supports future human missions to the Moon and Mars." During its 45-day journey to the Moon, Blue Ghost travelled more than 2.8 million miles, downlinked over 27 GB of data, and supported several payload science operations. These included signal tracking from the Global Navigation Satellite System at a record-breaking distance with the LuGRE payload, radiation-tolerant computing through the Van Allen Belts with the RadPC payload, and measurements of magnetic field changes with the LMS payload.
Keywords: feature,photo,video,moon,space,firefly,science,astronomy,lunar
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