Blue Ghost Mission 1 | 05 Mar 2025

Source: TH 

A US company, Firefly Aerospace, successfully landed its Blue Ghost Mission 1 on the Moon, marking the 2^nd private lunar landing and the 1st to land upright. 

• The mission is nicknamed “Ghost Riders in the Sky”, and was launched in January, 2025, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. 
• It landed (lander name: Golden) near Mons Latreille, a volcanic formation on the Moon’s northeastern near side. 
• It is part of NASA's collaboration with industry to reduce costs and support the Artemis Program, the mission to return astronauts to the Moon. 
• Upcoming Lunar Missions:  
  • IM-2 mission: Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission, featuring its lander Athena,  will be launched in March 2025. 
    • In February 2024, Intuitive Machines became the first private company to achieve a soft lunar landing and the first US landing since Apollo 17 in 1972. 
  • NASA’s CLPS Program: The US aims to establish routine private lunar missions through NASA’s USD Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.