Firefly Aerospace has made history by becoming the first commercial company to achieve a flawless landing on the Moon. The spacecraft, named Blue Ghost, touched down on the Mare Crisium, an ancient basaltic plain, early Sunday morning as part of a $101 million contract with NASA.
The successful landing occurred at 2:34 am CST (3:34 am EST; 08:34 UTC), with engineers in Firefly’s mission control monitoring real-time data from a distance of a quarter-million miles. Chief engineer Will Coogan announced the achievement to his team, exclaiming, “Y’all stuck the landing, we’re on the Moon!” The announcement was met with applause and celebration from Firefly employees and their families gathered at a local event in Leander, Texas.
Jason Kim, Firefly’s CEO, expressed the excitement in the control room, noting that the team remained calm and collected throughout the landing process. The Blue Ghost became the second commercial spacecraft to land on the Moon, following Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus, which experienced a problematic landing in February 2024.
Firefly Aerospace has undergone significant changes since its founding in 2014, navigating bankruptcy and ownership changes before emerging under new management. The company is now focused on developing its small satellite launcher and a medium-lift rocket in collaboration with Northrop Grumman.
This milestone landing illustrates NASA’s investment in commercial lunar exploration through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which aims to efficiently deliver scientific payloads to the Moon while fostering the growth of the lunar transportation industry.
