Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander has successfully entered lunar orbit after a four-minute, 15-second engine burn on February 13. Launched on January 15 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Blue Ghost is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The mission, dubbed "Ghost Riders in the Sky," carries 10 NASA science and technology experiments to study the lunar environment in preparation for the Artemis program.
Blue Ghost is scheduled to attempt a landing in the Mare Crisium region on March 2. If successful, it would mark the second private company to achieve a soft landing on the Moon, following Intuitive Machines' Odysseus in February 2024.
The CLPS initiative involves multiple American companies competing for contracts to deliver payloads to the lunar surface. NASA awarded Firefly approximately $101.5 million for this mission. The Artemis campaign utilizes these commercial robotic deliveries to conduct experiments and test technologies, paving the way for future crewed missions to the Moon and Mars.
Live coverage of the landing attempt will be jointly hosted by NASA and Firefly, starting at 2:30 a.m. EST on NASA+ and Firefly's YouTube channel. A news conference will follow the landing to discuss the mission and its scientific opportunities.