Firefly's Blue Ghost Lander reaches Moon’s orbit, shares dazzling first lunar views

Blue Ghost Lander Enters Lunar Orbit, Sends Stunning First Views. (Image: @Firefly_Space/X)

The Moon just got a new visitor. Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander has successfully entered lunar orbit and captured breathtaking images of the Moon. The spacecraft is now preparing for its landing, scheduled for 2 March.

On 14 February, Firefly announced that its team had successfully completed the 'Lunar Orbit Insertion.' This manoeuvre placed Blue Ghost in an elliptical orbit around the Moon. The mission team achieved this using the spacecraft’s main engine and RCS thrusters during a four-minute burn. Firefly shared the update on X, calling it their "most challenging burn to date."

Over the next 16 days, Blue Ghost will perform additional orbital adjustments. These manoeuvres will help circularise its path and bring it closer to the surface. The lander is set to touch down in the Mare Crisium region, a large impact basin on the near side of the Moon.

One last shot...for now! #BGM1 pic.twitter.com/KMQ91wtxqK
Firefly Aerospace (@Firefly_Space) February 14, 2025

NASA Experiments Aboard the Lander
Blue Ghost launched on 15 January aboard a SpaceX rocket carrying ten NASA payloads. These experiments aim to study the Moon’s surface and environment. Some key investigations include measuring the Moon’s interior temperature, analysing lunar soil, and testing how regolith sticks to different materials. The lander will also capture X-ray images to study the interaction between solar wind and Earth's magnetic field.

Way to go #GhostRiders! The team confirmed Blue Ghost's first trajectory correction maneuver was performed with such accuracy we are skipping the next one. With Earth in the rearview mirror, we're on cruise control until we reach the Moon's orbit and perform a Lunar Orbit pic.twitter.com/8p6ywBWuH0 Firefly Aerospace (@Firefly_Space) February 11, 2025

HAKUTO-R Lander Follows Closely
Blue Ghost is not the only lander heading for the Moon. The HAKUTO-R spacecraft, built by Japan’s ispace, launched on the same Falcon 9 rocket. On 15 February, ispace confirmed that its lander completed a lunar flyby, passing within 8,400 kilometres of the surface. The lander, named Resilience, even sent an image from 14,439 kilometres away.

Mission 2 Milestone Success 5 The RESILIENCE lunar lander successfully completed a flyby of the Moon on Feb. 15, 2025, coming within approximately 8,400 km of the lunar surface--a historic first of its type for a Japanese private, commercial lunar lander.This pic.twitter.com/o11HxeKmjW
ispace (@ispace_inc) February 15, 2025

Resilience will attempt a landing in the Mare Frigoris region in the Moon’s northern hemisphere in the coming weeks. It carries a small rover, Tenacious, designed to scoop lunar soil for examination. Other payloads include an electrolyser experiment, a food production test, and a deep-space radiation probe.

With these missions in progress, the Moon continues to reveal its secrets to science.