Photo Gallery: Firefly Aerospace Goes The Distance

Irene Klotz March 04, 2025
Blue Ghost Mission 1 - Shadow on the Moon's Surface
Credit: Firefly Aerospace

Firefly’s Blue Ghost golf-cart-size lunar lander made a soft touchdown at 3:34 a.m. EST on March 2 in Mare Crisium, a region on the Moon’s near side where lava from ancient volcanoes once flowed. An early image showed the Blue Ghost’s shadow on the stark lunar surface.

Blue Ghost Mission 1 - Moon Fly By
Credit: Firefly Aerospace

The lander captured footage of the far side of the Moon during its third lunar orbit maneuver on Feb.  24. That maneuver inserted the Blue Ghost into a near-circular orbit about 62 mi. above the surface. This image is a top-down view of the Blue Ghost's reaction control system thrusters (center) and radiator panels on each side. On March 2, the lander began its descent to the lunar surface with a 19-sec. braking burn.

Blue Ghost Mission 1 - Falcon 9 Rocket Encapsulating BGM1
Credit: SpaceX

Firefly’s first Blue Ghost lander launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center at 1:11 a.m. EST on Jan. 15.

Blue Ghost Mission 1 - Launch Vehicle Separation
Credit: SpaceX

Sixty-six minutes after liftoff, SpaceX deployed Firefly’s lander into a highly elliptical Earth orbit to begin a 45-day flight. The spacecraft’s signal was detected 9 min. later.

Blue Ghost Mission 1 - Earth Reflection
Credit: Firefly Aerospace

The Blue Ghost captured this image of Earth reflecting off its solar panel. Also visible on the lander’s top deck were Firefly’s X-band antenna and NASA's Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager, one of 10 agency payloads on board.

Blue Ghost Mission 1 - Moon's South Pole
Credit: Firefly Aerospace
The Blue Ghost reached lunar orbit on Feb. 13 and spent the next 16 days circularizing and lowering orbit before attempting the descent to the lunar surface. On Feb. 14, the spacecraft captured this image of the Moon’s south pole, far left, where another U.S. lander will attempt to touch down as early as March 6. 
 


 

Firefly Aerospace’s first lunar lander touched down within 1 m of its selected landing site on March 2 to begin a two-week science and technology demonstration mission for NASA. 

Read more: Firefly Kicks Off Two-Week Science Mission On The Moon

Irene Klotz

Irene Klotz is Senior Space Editor for Aviation Week, based in Cape Canaveral. Before joining Aviation Week in 2017, Irene spent 25 years as a wire service reporter covering human and robotic spaceflight, commercial space, astronomy, science and technology for Reuters and United Press International.