A private lunar lander named Blue Ghost, developed by Firefly Aerospace, has landed on the moon, delivering equipment for NASA. The lander, which is the first private spacecraft to achieve a stable landing without tipping over, touched down on the moon’s northeastern edge on Sunday.
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander descended from lunar orbit on autopilot, targeting the slopes of an ancient volcanic dome in an impact basin on the moon’s northeastern edge of the near side. The company’s Mission Control, located outside Austin, Texas, confirmed a successful landing.
An upright and stable landing made Firefly the first private company to put a spacecraft on the moon without crashing or falling over. Some governments working on space flight have failed in the past, as only five countries — Russia, the U.S., China, India and Japan — have been successful.
Blue Ghost, which was named after a rare U.S. species of firefly, is a four-legged land, standing 6-foot-6 tall and 11 feet wide, offering extra stability, according to the company.
About half an hour after landing, Blue Ghost started to send back pictures from the surface. The first image was a selfie somewhat obscured by the sun’s glare.
Two other companies’ landers are making missions soon, with the next one expected to join the Blue Ghost on the moon later this week.