Firefly Aerospace is a Texas-based private aerospace company that provides end-to-end space transportation services. It specializes in the development of small to medium-lift launch vehicles like the Alpha rocket and lunar landers such as Blue Ghost, along with on-orbit services using its Elytra space tug. Firefly works with partners like NASA and ESA, securing contracts for commercial lunar payload services and missions to the far side of the Moon. The company aims to provide affordable and reliable space access for government and commercial customers, contributing to lunar and cislunar exploration.
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Firefly Aerospace claims to be the first commercial company to achieve a fully successful soft landing on the Moon.
Blue Ghost 1 is a lunar lander developed by Firefly Aerospace.
Firefly has two additional CLPS landing missions contracted by NASA.
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost spacecraft completed a 12-minute descent from a 20-kilometer altitude point to achieve a soft, upright touchdown on the Moon in Mare Crisium on March 2 at 8:34 UTC.
The Moon lander duo from ispace Japan and Firefly Aerospace were launched by SpaceX on January 15 as a shared Falcon 9 ride to space.
Firefly Aerospace and NASA switched on six payloads on Blue Ghost, which have collected and sent initial data to Earth.
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost is flying 10 NASA payloads under the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program in a company-first mission.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched and deployed two Moon landers on January 15, 2026: Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost and ispace Japan’s Hakuto-R.
Firefly Aerospace and ispace are competing to win business for sending payloads to the Moon.
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Moon lander was fueled and encapsulated in Falcon 9’s fairing as of January 10.
SpaceX is targeting a shared Falcon 9 launch on January 15 for the ispace Japan and Firefly Aerospace Moon lander duo.
NASA published a press kit for Firefly Aerospace’s mission as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
The Falcon 9 will carry Blue Ghost 1, the first lunar lander by Firefly Aerospace.
NASA selected Firefly Aerospace for a third lunar lander mission that will include a rover and is scheduled to launch in 2028.
NASA awarded Firefly Aerospace a Commercial Lunar Payload Services task order on 2024-12-18 valued at $179,600,000 for a mission to the Gruithuisen Domes region on the near side of the moon.
The CLPS task order to Firefly Aerospace is the fourth CLPS task order awarded to Firefly and includes three lunar landers and one task order to provide radio frequency calibration services from orbit to support a radio science payload on the second lander mission.
The awarded $179,600,000 CLPS task order to Firefly Aerospace is among the largest CLPS task orders to date, behind only the award to Astrobotic for its Griffin lander.
Both the second and third Blue Ghost missions will use Firefly Aerospace’s Elytra Dark orbital transfer vehicle to deliver the landers to lunar orbit, and those Elytra Dark vehicles will remain in lunar orbit to provide communications services.
The mission will use Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lander to deliver six payloads to the moon for imaging, spectroscopy, other observations, and sampling lunar regolith.
Firefly Aerospace was awarded an approximately $179,600,000 NASA contract to deliver and operate six NASA instruments in the Gruithuisen Domes on the Moon’s near side in 2028.