Overnight, while most of America was sleeping, a small step of progress for the Artemis Project was made, one that was a giant leap for commercial space: Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 successfully landed at 3:34 AM EST on Sunday on the Moon, near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium, a more than 300-mile-wide basin located in the northeast quadrant of the Moon’s near side.

As Firefly notes in their announcement of the safe landing, this is the first time since Apollo 17 an American spacecraft has made a fully successful landing on the lunar surface.

We have confirmation Blue Ghost stuck the landing! Firefly just became the first commercial company in history to achieve a fully successful Moon landing. This small step on the Moon represents a giant leap in commercial exploration. Congratulations to the entire Firefly team, our mission partners, and our NASA customers for this incredible feat that paves the way for future missions to the Moon and Mars.

Firefly Aerospace, March 2, 2025, 3:34 AM EST

Half an hour later, the company released their first images from the lunar surface:

NASA leadership was quick to congratulate the company: “This incredible achievement demonstrates how NASA and American companies are leading the way in space exploration for the benefit of all,” said NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro. “We have already learned many lessons – and the technological and science demonstrations onboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 will improve our ability to not only discover more science, but to ensure the safety of our spacecraft instruments for future human exploration – both in the short term and long term.”

The first photographs released by Firefly are relatively low resolution. That is because the company is working to deploy the antenna on Blue Ghost responsible for high-resolution imagery. After that has been completed and data has been sent through, Firefly plans to release high resolution photographs.

Ahead: A Busy Two Weeks Gathering Data

Ten NASA science and technology instruments aboard the lander will operate on the lunar surface for approximately one lunar day, or about 14 Earth days.

The Blue Ghost 1 lunar lander is equipped with a suite of scientific experiments designed to explore various aspects of the Moon and its environment. It will examine lunar subsurface heat flow, collect regolith samples, and test strategies for mitigating lunar dust.

Additionally, the lander will assess Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) capabilities and demonstrate radiation-tolerant computing. It will also contribute to space weather research by capturing X-ray images to study how Earth’s magnetosphere interacts with the solar wind, while analyzing the Moon’s electrical and magnetic fields. These observations will help scientists better understand the effects of space weather on Earth.

“On behalf of our entire team, I want to thank NASA for entrusting Firefly as their lunar delivery provider,” said Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace. “Blue Ghost’s successful Moon landing has laid the groundwork for the future of commercial exploration across cislunar space. We’re now looking forward to more than 14 days of surface operations to unlock even more science data that will have a substantial impact on future missions to the Moon and Mars.”