Benjamin Tackett, a native of St. Charles, Illinois, is poised to join an elite group of space explorers as the leader of the Blue Ghost Mission 1, a historic mission to the moon by Texas-based space company Firefly Aerospace.
The mission launched on January 15 aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and will spend approximately 45 days in transit to the moon. Upon arrival, the spacecraft will test samples, collect data on lunar dusk conditions, and deliver 10 payloads of NASA’s science and technology instruments to the surface.
Tackett, a systems engineer, is responsible for risk management and change control during the mission. He has been leading the Firefly team from their Mission Control room in Texas throughout the completion of the mission.
The Blue Ghost mission aims to complete a soft landing on the moon’s surface without significant damage, a feat that has only been achieved a handful of times in history. This would be the first U.S. commercial company to execute a successful soft landing.
During the 60-day mission, Tackett and his team will perform various operations, including subsurface drilling, sample collection, radiation measurements, and mitigating lunar dust. They aim to gather critical data about the moon’s geophysical characteristics and the interaction of solar wind and Earth’s magnetic field.
Tackett has extensive experience in space missions, having worked on Mars missions during his time at NASA Langley Research Center. He is now part of a select group of organizations with the capability to complete a mission of this type.
The Blue Ghost Mission 1 marks an exciting milestone for Firefly Aerospace and the commercial space industry as a whole. The company’s success paves the way for future missions, including two additional Blue Ghost moon missions scheduled for 2026 and 2028.
Source: https://www.shawlocal.com/kane-county-chronicle/2025/02/03/st-charles-native-rocket-scientist-executing-mission-to-the-moon