A US private spacecraft achieved its first-ever uncrewed lunar landing on Sunday, marking the second commercial moon landing.
Firefly Aerospace’s lunar lander Blue Ghost touched down near an ancient volcanic vent on Mare Crisium, a large basin in the northeast corner of the moon’s Earth-facing side.
“We’re on the moon,” Mission Control reported, adding the lander was “stable.”
The mission is part of a NASA partnership with industry to cut costs and support the Artemis program, which strives to return astronauts to the moon.
“We’re going to be putting America first, we’re making America proud, we’re doing this for the US citizens,” said acting NASA director Janet Petro.
What do we know about the mission?
Blue Ghost was launched in mid-January from Florida, carrying 10 experiments from NASA to the lunar surface. The space agency paid $101 million (roughly €97.3 million) for the delivery, and $44 million more for the science.
The four-legged lunar lander is roughly the size of a compact car.
The lander is carrying a vacuum that would suck up moon dirt for analysis. There is also a drill on board that can measure temperature at depths of up to 10 feet (3 meters) below the surface.