Blue Ghost Lander The shadow of the lander on the Moon’s surface, with Earth in the background.  © Firefly Aerospace

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander successfully touched down on the Moon, marking the first commercial lunar landing.

During its 60-day mission, Firefly Aerospace‘s Blue Ghost lander will deploy several NASA scientific instruments, including PlanetVac, which collects lunar dust by stirring up gas.

Blue Ghost Lander successfully touched down on the Moon 1Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander captured footage of the Moon during its third lunar orbit maneuver.  © Firefly Aerospace

Blue Ghost also carries LEXI, a telescope that captures X-ray images of Earth’s magnetosphere. This data will help scientists understand how Earth’s magnetic field shields the planet from solar wind and flares.

Future Blue Ghost missions aim to support NASA’s Artemis program, with Artemis III set to return humans to the Moon in 2027.

source APOD