Firefly's Blue Ghost successfully lands on the moon

Firefly Aerospace's lunar lander, Blue Ghost, successfully landed on the moon early Sunday, delivering NASA payloads as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. This marks Firefly's first lunar landing and the third mission under NASA's program. The lander carried 10 NASA instruments for various scientific tests, including lunar subsurface drilling and satellite navigation. It traveled over 2.8 million miles since its launch on January 15 and will operate on the lunar surface for about 14 Earth days. A second lander from Intuitive Machines is set to land on the moon this Thursday, aiming for a location closer to the south pole than its previous mission. A third lander from the Japanese company ispace is expected to land in about three months.