The Blue Ghost lunar lander’s mission may have ended, now resting lifeless on the Moon’s surface, but its success has secured its place in history.
Blue Ghost was a rare success in NASA’s CLPS and Artemis lunar mission programs which has seen a series of failed Moon lander missions. Along the way, Blue Ghost captured a series of stunning and unique photos.
Made by private company Firefly Aerospace, Blue Ghost first began capturing spectacular photos of Earth on January 23 during an engine burn. It later captured video of the spacecraft’s machinery in the foreground with the blue marble of Earth in the background.
T-5 days until Blue Ghost says goodbye to Earth! With the accuracy we achieved on our first two burns, we were able to skip the third Earth orbit maneuver. Blue Ghost is already in a good position to perform our trans-lunar injection in just under a week. Our #GhostRiders… pic.twitter.com/lMHpr8ix14
— Firefly Aerospace (@Firefly_Space) February 3, 2025
After leaving Earth’s orbit, Blue Ghost began focusing on the Moon and started by taking photos of the glowing lunar surface.
Earth rise, Earth set, repeat! Blue Ghost’s third and final lunar orbit maneuver is complete! Early this morning, our #GhostRiders performed a 16-second burn with our RCS thrusters to enter a near-circular low lunar orbit. Up next, we’ll perform a 19-second Descent Orbit… pic.twitter.com/B8ptv1D0yv
— Firefly Aerospace (@Firefly_Space) February 24, 2025
Blue Ghost made a historic lunar landing on March 2 and its first photo may be arguably its best as it took a creative selfie showing it silhouetted on the surface as Earth shone in the background.
While on the Moon, a rare lunar eclipse occurred that turned Earth’s satellite red. Blue Ghost captured a view of the eclipse which, from the Moon at least, is more aptly named an Earth eclipse since it is our planet blocking the sunlight.
It also captured groundbreaking photos of a sunrise from the Moon’s perspective as well as the first-ever images of a lunar sunset.
As the Sun set on the Moon, plunging it into two weeks of night, it marked the end of Blue Ghost which was not designed to withstand the bitter cold of the lunar night. It signed off with the following message, transmitted five hours after sunset.
Mission mode change detected, now in Monument Mode
Goodnight friends. After exchanging our final bits of data,
I will hold vigil on this spot in Mare Crisium to watch humanity’s continued journey to the stars.
Here, I will outlast your mightiest rivers, your tallest mountains, and perhaps even your species as we know it.
But it is remarkable that a species might be outlasted by its own ingenuity.
Here lies Blue Ghost, a testament to the team who, with the loving support of their families and friends, built and operated this machine and its payloads,
to push the capabilities and knowledge of humanity one small step further.
Per aspera ad astra!
Love, Blue Ghost
When the Sun rises again in early April, Firefly Aerospace will listen for messages from Blue Ghost just in case it does survive.
“Firefly Aerospace is extremely proud to have accomplished this first fully successful commercial moon landing,” Jason Kim, Firefly’s chief executive, said.
“I truly believe Firefly and Blue Ghost’s historic mission will be a new chapter in textbooks and become a beacon of what humanity can achieve.”
