Private US spaceship lands on Moon

CAPE CANAVERAL

A U.S. company successfully landed its spacecraft on the Moon on March 2 after a long journey through space, marking only the second private mission to achieve the milestone and the first to do so upright.

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1 touched down shortly after 3:34 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time (0834 GMT) near Mons Latreille, a volcanic formation in Mare Crisium on the Moon's northeastern near side.

"Y'all stuck the landing, we're on the Moon," an engineer at mission control in Austin, Texas, called out as the team erupted in cheers.

A first image is expected soon. CEO Jason Kim later confirmed that the spacecraft was "stable and upright" in contrast to the first private landing last February, which came down sideways.

"We're on the Moon!" Nicky Fox, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, rejoiced.

Nicknamed "Ghost Riders in the Sky," the mission is part of a NASA-industry partnership aimed at reducing costs and supporting Artemis, the program designed to return astronauts to the Moon.

The golden lander, about the size of a hippopotamus, launched on Jan. 15 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, capturing stunning footage of Earth and along the way. It shared a ride with a Japanese company's lander set to attempt a landing in May.

Blue Ghost carries 10 instruments, including a lunar soil analyzer, a radiation-tolerant computer and an experiment testing the feasibility of using the existing global satellite navigation system to navigate the Moon.

Designed to operate for a full lunar day (14 Earth days), Blue Ghost is expected to capture high-definition imagery of a total eclipse on March 14, when Earth blocks the Sun from the Moon's horizon.

On March 16, it will record a lunar sunset, offering insights into how dust levitates above the surface under solar influence, creating the mysterious lunar horizon glow first documented by Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan.