Image: NASA
Blue Ghost Mission 1
Mission Profile
| Launch date | 2025-01-15 |
|---|---|
| Launch vehicle | Falcon 9 |
| Spacecraft | Blue Ghost lander ('Ghost Riders in the Sky') |
| Target | Moon |
| Type | Robotic |
| End date | 2025-03-16 |
| Cost | $101M NASA CLPS task order + $44M NASA payloads |
| Duration | ~45-day transit + one lunar day (~14 Earth days) of surface operations |
| Partners | Firefly Aerospace, NASA CLPS, SpaceX (launch) |
| Instruments | LISTER (heat-flow drill), LuGRE (GNSS receiver), EDS (electrodynamic dust shield), SCALPSS (plume-surface imaging), 6 additional NASA CLPS payloads |
Overview
Blue Ghost Mission 1 was Firefly Aerospace's debut lunar lander and a landmark for NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program: on 2 March 2025 it touched down upright in Mare Crisium, completing the first fully successful commercial Moon landing. Carrying 10 NASA payloads, the lander operated for a full lunar day — roughly 346 hours — drilling with the LISTER heat-flow probe, tracking GPS-class navigation signals at lunar distance with LuGRE, demonstrating electrodynamic dust shielding, and capturing high-definition imagery of the 14 March total solar eclipse, when Earth blocked the Sun above the lunar horizon. The mission ended on 16 March 2025 after also imaging the lunar-horizon glow at sunset, setting the benchmark that subsequent CLPS deliveries are measured against.
Key Milestones
2025-01-15
Launch on Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center
2025-03-02
Mare Crisium landing — first fully successful commercial lunar landing
2025-03-14
Images total solar eclipse from the lunar surface
2025-03-16
Mission ends after ~346 hours of surface operations
