The second-ever landing on the Moon by a commercial craft was achieved this weekend by US firm Firefly Aerospace.
The Blue Ghost lunar lander, which was carrying a number of payloads from Nasa, softly touched down on the Moon’s surface on Sunday morning UK time in an upright position on the company’s first attempt.
Carrying 10 Nasa instruments, the precision landing saw Blue Ghost touch down within its 100-metre landing target next to Mons Latreille, a volcanic feature. The craft’s shock-absorbing legs stabilised the lander as it touched down, and it is now communicating with Firefly’s mission operations centre in Texas.
Intuitive Machines landed the first privately built craft on the Moon last year, the first time such a feat was achieved by the US in over 50 years. However, the Odysseus lander fell on its side as it touched down, leaving its instruments only partially functional and with a reduced downlink capacity.
Over the next two weeks, Blue Ghost will carry out a number of surface...