New Moon images captured by US spacecraft ahead of Sunday's lunar landing
Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost spacecraft is set to touch down on the Moon on Sunday. Among its payload are science experiments for NASA.
Blue Ghost orbits the moon ahead of lunar landing on Sunday
The Blue Ghost will make a soft landing on the moon on Sunday. Firefly Aerospace posted a video of the spacecraft making its second burn before getting into lunar orbit ahead of landing. The Earth rises and sets in the distance of the video.
We're one step closer to another Moon landing for the U.S., as the Blue Ghost spacecraft prepares to touch down on the lunar surface this weekend.
Firefly Aerospace posted new visuals of the Moon taken by the Blue Ghost lander, which made its third and final engine burn Monday to put it into low lunar orbit ahead of the Moon landing set for Sunday.
In the video, Blue Ghost moves around Earth's craterous satellite after its second burn. Our planet can be seen rising and setting in the background of the video, a tiny crescent that disappears behind the Moon.
The Blue Ghost is set to land on the Moon on Sunday, March 2.
(@Firefly_Space/X / FOX Weather)
The Sun shines brightly at the top of the video, casting a halo.
The Blue Ghost has been in space since January, sending back gorgeous images of the Moon from space since its launch.
Now, another 19-second engine burn will set up the spacecraft to begin its final descent to the Moon for a soft landing Sunday.
SEE IT: FIREFLY'S LUNAR LANDER ZOOMS 75 MILES ABOVE FAR SIDE OF MOON
Firefly Aerospace lunar lander captures view from Moon's far side
This video taken by Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander shows the far side of the Moon from about 75 miles above the surface. Blue Ghost is set to touch down on the Moon in early March.
Firefly Aerospace is among NASA’s selected U.S. companies for its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Under this program, the space agency sends its payloads to the Moon via private robotic missions to prepare for the next human Moon landing expected in 2027 as part of NASA's Artemis missions.
Firefly has named its first CLPS mission Ghost Riders in the Sky.
Blue Ghost will fly the most NASA payloads out of the recent CLPS missions, with 10 dedicated science investigations for the agency.