A robotic lander from Texas-based Firefly Aerospace has successfully entered into lunar orbit, paving the way for its final preparations to land on the Moon in the coming weeks. The Blue Ghost lander completed a four-minute and 15-second maneuver called Lunar Orbit Insertion, putting it into an elliptical orbit around the Moon.
Launched last month onboard a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, this marks the third mission launched as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. The lander is carrying 10 NASA payloads, including instruments designed to study heat flow and capture lunar plumes.
Firefly Aerospace has won the bid to manifest the most NASA instruments on a single CLPS lander so far. The company’s team is excited about this milestone, with vice president of Engineering Brigette Oakes describing it as an “incredible time” for her and her coworkers. The landing site is near Mons Latreille in Mare Crisium, with a target landing time of 3:45 a.m. EDT (0745 UTC).
The lander will spend the next 16 days performing checkouts and maneuvers to circularize its orbit before making its final descent onto the Moon’s surface. This mission is part of NASA’s efforts to bring science and technology demonstrations to the Moon at a lower cost, with Firefly Aerospace playing a key role in this initiative.
Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2025/02/16