Blue Ghost lunar lander takes its first photos of the Moon

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost moon lander, which was launched on January 15 and is heading for the Moon, has transmitted its first photos taken from Earth's orbit.

One picture shows the natural satellite all alone - a small grayish dot in the empty black sea. And the other photo is a "selfie" that shows the Moon glowing above the golden elements of Blue Ghost, Space.com reports.

"While Blue Ghost is in Earth orbit, we'll continue to keep an eye on our final destination! To the moon!" Firefly representatives wrote in a post on X.

As a reminder, Blue Ghost is the first ever Firefly lunar vehicle. It was launched on January 15 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, which also carried the second private lunar lander Resilience of the Japanese company ispace.

The Blue Ghost mission, which Firefly calls "Ghost Riders in the Sky," is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services or CLPS program, experts say. The agency conducted 10 scientific experiments aboard the lander to collect data that will help the Artemis program return astronauts to the lunar surface in a few years.

According to Firefly, Blue Ghost is performing all functions on schedule. In about 10 days, the spacecraft will perform its most important engine launch, the translunar injection burn, which will set its course from orbit to the Moon.

This journey will last about four Earth days. Blue Ghost will then spend 16 days in lunar orbit, after which it will attempt to land in Mare Crisium ("Sea of Crises"), a large basin on the lunar nearside, experts say.

Firefly reports that the solar-powered Blue Ghost will operate for about two Earth weeks on the lunar surface, turning off a few hours after the sun sets.

In addition to the published photos of the Moon, Blue Ghost transmitted a video of an incredible solar eclipse the day before, and also took wonderful "blue marble" photos of the surface of our Earth.

As for the other vehicle that is also headed to the Moon, Resilience, it is also working as planned. According to the ispace company, the module is preparing to fly around the Moon, which will take place around February 15.

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