Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar lander captures photo of its shadow on the Moon with the volcanic feature, Mons Latreille, visible on the top right side of the lunar surface. Image: Firefly Aerospace The journey of Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander came to an end over the weekend. The 14-day operation on the surface of …
Firefly Aerospace’s team in its mission operations center celebrates the successful touchdown of its first Blue Ghost lunar lander on the Moon on Sunday, March 2, 2025. Image: Firefly Aerospace via livestream Hugs, high-fives and cheers were shared in Firefly Aerospace’s mission control room in the predawn hours on Sunday. Down the road, dozens more …
Firefly Aerospace aces Moon landing on first attempt Read More »
While in lunar orbit, Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander captured an image of the Moon’s south pole on the far left. Image: Firefly Aerospace A robotic lander from Texas-based Firefly Aerospace is now in orbit around the Moon and going through its final preparations to land in the coming weeks. On Thursday, the company announced that …
Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander arrives in lunar orbit Read More »
NASA’s VIPER – short for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover – sits assembled inside the cleanroom at the agency’s Johnson Space Center. Image: NASA/Helen Arase Vargas NASA announced Wednesday it was pulling the plug on the VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) project. It was the second time in less than a decade, NASA …
NASA cancels half-billion dollar water-ice-seeking VIPER Moon rover Read More »
A image of Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander named ‘Odysseus’ captured by one of the spacecraft’s onboard cameras. Image: Intuitive Machines Achieving a successful lunar landing becomes increasingly more tangible for the team at Intuitive Machines with each passing day since launch. On Wednesday, the Houston-based company announced that it was able to place its robotic …
Intuitive Machines’ Moon lander Odysseus reaches lunar orbit Read More »
Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander captured by a camera mounted onboard the lander on its second day in space. Image: Astrobotic The first U.S. lander bound for the Moon since 1972 burned up in Earth’s atmosphere on Thursday. The unfortunate ending for Astrobotic’s spacecraft was deemed the most responsible choice given its hopes of reaching the …
Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander ends mission in fiery reentry Read More »
Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander in the clean room at Astrotech in Titusville, Florida. The spacecraft was the main payload onboard the first launch of ULA’s Vulcan rocket. Image: ULA In situation seemly pulled from a science fiction movie, a robotic mission to the Moon swung from the brink of failure to having renewed hope before …
Peregrine lander suffers propulsion ‘anomaly,’ Moon landing seemingly unlikely Read More »
The inaugural Vulcan rocket leaps off the pad at Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The booster was powered by the first pair of BE-4 engines to fly in space. Image: Michael Cain/Spaceflight Now With the company’s future riding on it, United Launch Alliance’s first Vulcan rocket successfully put a commercial robotic …
The United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket is transported from the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) to Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, in preparation for the certification mission (Cert-1). The mission will launch the Astrobotic Peregrine commercial lunar lander, as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, into a highly elliptical orbit more …
ULA says its Vulcan rocket is finally ready to fly Read More »
The payload for the Certification-1 (Cert-1) flight test on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan rocket is encapsulated inside its payload fairing in preparation for launch. The mission will launch the first Astrobotic Peregrine commercial lunar lander, as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, into a highly elliptical orbit more than 220,000 …
NASA discusses Moon-bound science as ULA’s Vulcan rocket gets go ahead for Jan. 8 launch Read More »
