Moon Welcomes Its First Commercial Spacecraft

The first successful commercial moon landing is complete.

Blue Ghost – a commercial spacecraft sponsored by NASA and built by Texas startup Firefly Aerospace – arrived in the moon’s orbit in mid-February and spent two weeks on the moon, carrying out missions and gathering data.

10 science and technology payloads were carried in the spacecraft and used for various tasks: one, for example, simplified the collection of soil and rocks. At the same time, another gathered data about naturally occurring currents inside the moon, which will provide scientists with hints about what the moon is made of up to 700 miles below the surface. Blue Ghost also captured incredible photos and videos of the moon’s surface and a solar eclipse. Remarkably, Blue Ghost is one of the few successful moon missions, and it achieved the feat on its first go. Before “turning off” – as it was not equipped to survive the bitter cold of a lunar night – the spacecraft sent one last message to Earth: “Here lies Blue Ghost, a testament to the team who, with the loving support of their families and friends, built and operated this machine and its payloads, to push the capabilities and knowledge of humanity one small step further.”