Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander has officially begun its journey to the moon after successfully executing a critical engine burn to leave Earth’s orbit.
Earth as seen from orbit by Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost moon lander. Ccredit: Firefly Aerospace
"Blue Ghost successfully performed a Trans Lunar Injection burn to escape Earth's gravitational pull and begin a 4-day transit to the moon's orbit," the company announced on February 8 via the social media platform X.
The spacecraft launched on January 15 as part of the "Ghost Riders in the Sky" mission, riding aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket alongside Resilience, a lander from Japanese space exploration firm ispace. Since launch, both landers had been orbiting Earth in preparation for their lunar transit.
To fine-tune its trajectory, Blue Ghost performed a trajectory-correction maneuver on February 9, ensuring it remains on course for lunar orbit.
In the coming days, the lander will enter a high lunar orbit before gradually lowering its altitude in preparation for a landing attempt.
"We'll then spend approximately 16 days in lunar orbit before we begin Blue Ghost's descent. This gives Firefly plenty of time to calibrate our navigation system and continue payload science operations for NASA," the company stated.
The lander is targeting Mare Crisium (Latin for "Sea of Crises"), a vast basin on the moon’s near side.
Blue Ghost is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, which partners with private companies to deliver scientific instruments to the moon. The mission’s objectives include subsurface drilling, sample collection, X-ray imaging of Earth's magnetic field, and dust mitigation studies.
If successful, Blue Ghost will mark another step forward in commercial lunar exploration, advancing both scientific research and future human spaceflight capabilities.
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