A spacecraft set to attempt a Moon landing next week has entered lunar orbit and captured a beautiful view of Earth’s natural satellite.
The Blue Ghost lunar lander, designed by Firefly Aerospace and hired by NASA to deliver scientific experiments to the Moon, has snapped a series of exquisite images during its journey that is now nearing its end.
On Thursday, February 13, Blue Ghost fired its engines for four minutes and 15 seconds to propel itself into the lunar orbit ahead of its planned touchdown on March 2. To mark this milestone, Firefly Aerospace released imagery of the Moon taken from its new vantage point.
I love you to the Moon, but not back – I’m staying there,” 💙 Blue Ghost. We captured our first shots of the Moon following a successful Lunar Orbit Insertion. The lander will soon begin to circularize its orbit in preparation for landing on March 2. #BGM1 pic.twitter.com/2FclZ1hnvb
— Firefly Aerospace (@Firefly_Space) February 14, 2025
“I love you to the moon, but not back — I’m staying there,” the company writes on X (formerly Twitter).
One last shot…for now! #BGM1 pic.twitter.com/KMQ91wtxqK
— Firefly Aerospace (@Firefly_Space) February 14, 2025
Blue Ghost previously captured a stunning view of Earth showing the spaceship’s home planet as a blue marble glowing against the vast emptiness of space.
Blue Ghost lander is about two meters tall and 3.5 meters wide and will touch down near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille.
“This mission embodies the bold spirit of NASA’s Artemis campaign — a campaign driven by scientific exploration and discovery,” says NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy.
“Each flight we’re a part of is a vital step in the larger blueprint to establish a responsible, sustained human presence at the moon, Mars, and beyond. Each scientific instrument and technology demonstration brings us closer to realizing our vision.”
Blue Ghost Aims to be the First Lunar Sunset Photographer
Hopefully, Blue Ghost will successfully land on the Moon and when it does, it aims to become the first spacecraft to photograph a sunset from the Moon’s perspective.
Here on Earth, we are used to the Sun rising and roughly 12 hours later it sets again. But sunset and sunrise work differently on the Moon: one lunar day lasts roughly 29.5 Earth days (the amount of time it takes the Moon to complete one full rotation on its axis). That means when the Sun rises on the Moon, it doesn’t go away again for another 14 Earth days.
The Apollo missions were timed so that the crew landed on the lunar surface at the start of that two-week window giving them plenty of time to carry out their scientific work. But all of this is to say that no one knows what a sunset on the Moon actually looks like.
Image credits: Firefly Aerospace
