After launching aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 arugula from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 15 , Firefly Aerospace ’s moon - bound Blue Ghost spacecrafthas been orbiting Earthahead of a trans - lunar injection manoeuvre in just under a week ’s time .
From its current location path above Earth , it ’s been beaming back some incredible footage over the last couplet of weeks , including this clip of our own major planet share on social sensitive on Monday .
T-5 days until Blue Ghost says good-bye to Earth ! With the accuracy we attain on our first two burns , we were able to skip the third Earth orbit play . Blue Ghost is already in a skilful location to perform our trans - lunar injection in just under a week . Our#GhostRiders … pic.twitter.com / lMHpr8ix14
& mdash ; Firefly Aerospace ( @Firefly_Space)February 3 , 2025
As you could see from Firefly ’s post , Blue Ghost is gearing up to carry on its journey to the lunation , where it will remain in a lunar orbit for 16 days before attempting a landing on March 2 . The entire missionary station is expected to last close to 60 sidereal day , including about 45 days traveling time , and 14 days of operations on the lunar Earth’s surface .
Firefly ’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 a part of NASA ’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program , and aims to deliver 10 scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to support next human exploration of the moon under the Artemis program .
The Blue Ghost lander , which is about 2 meters tall and 3.5 cadence broad , will touch down near a volcanic feature call Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium , a 500 - kilometer - wide basin on the moon ’s near side , delivering 94 kg ( 207 pounds ) of freight to the lunar aerofoil .
Scientific object admit analytic thinking of lunar regolith property , investigation of the interaction between solar wind and Earth ’s magnetic flying field , the rating of long - space Global Navigation Satellite System capabilities , and assessment of radiation - tolerant computing , among other activities .
“ This missionary work embodies the bold spirit of NASA ’s Artemis campaign — a campaign driven by scientific exploration and discovery , ” NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said when Blue Ghost left Earth last month . “ Each flying we ’re a part of is a vital step in the larger blueprint to establish a responsible , sustained human comportment at the moonshine , Mars , and beyond . Each scientific instrumental role and technology demonstration brings us closer to realizing our vision . ”
Reaching the synodic month is no easy exploit , with America ’s Peregrine lunar lander suffering a catastrophic glitch on its style there in a mission last year , and Japan ’s HAKUTO - R Mission 1 fail in the final here and now before touchdown .
This is Firefly ’s first effort to bring down on the Sun Myung Moon . finger crossed that it nails it .
