Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander is currently on its way to the moon. Ahead of landing, it captured glimpses of the Earth from space. On Monday, Firefly Aerospace shared some new visuals taken by Blue Ghost on X.
The side note read, “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 manoeuvre.”
Blue Ghost is already in a good position to perform our trans-lunar injection in just under a week, it said. “Our #GhostRiders continue to capture some incredible shots of our home planet along the way. #BGM1.”
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
People, watching the visuals on X, were stunned, with some saying they couldn’t wait to see the post-landing images and videos.
“These preview videos and images make me eager to see what you’ll capture during and after landing!” read a comment.
These preview videos and images make me eager to see what you’ll capture during and after landing!
— Joe Tegtmeyer ???? ???????????? (@JoeTegtmeyer) February 3, 2025
“What a beautiful sight! Proud of this one,” said a person.
What a beautiful sight! Proud of this one
— Giuseppe Pasqualino (@Giuseppe_r_P) February 3, 2025
“Absolutely awesome Firefly! Rocket science in action,” said another.
Absolutely awesome Firefly! Rocket science in action ????
— Lordiiiip.eth ????BananaConf ???? BEEPLE 〽️NFTNYC24 (@Lord_iiiip) February 3, 2025
On January 29, Firefly Aerospace shared that the mission had already clocked 715,000 miles in its journey and downlinked more than 7 GB of data in just two weeks.
In new developments, the mission has started calibrating the LEXI X-ray imager to maximise its performance levels for operations on the lunar surface.
“LEXI will be calibrated daily until we land on the Moon. The payload will then capture a series of X-ray images to study the interaction of solar wind and the Earth’s magnetic field that drives geomagnetic disturbances and storms on our home planet,” the company said.
Another payload milestone achieved on our way to the Moon! Our #GhostRiders began calibrating the LEXI X-ray imager to maximize its performance levels and prepare for operations on the lunar surface. Developed by @BU_Tweets, @NASA, and @JohnsHopkins, LEXI will be calibrated daily… pic.twitter.com/0cEE0azeJJ
— Firefly Aerospace (@Firefly_Space) January 28, 2025
The Blue Ghost mission is an important part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. It aims to deliver ten research payloads to Mare Crisium on the lunar surface.
Launched on January 15, 2025, Blue Ghost is scheduled to land on the Moon on March 2, 2025. It will be in operation for about 60 days during its mission.
Once it successfully lands in Mare Crisium, Blue Ghost will operate 10 NASA payloads for a complete lunar day, which is roughly 14 days on Earth. It is expected to support several science and technology demonstrations such as sample collection, X-ray imaging, lunar subsurface drilling and dust mitigation.