SpaceX launches lunar landers Blue Ghost and Resilience on historic moon missions
SpaceX has launched a pair of lunar landers on Wednesday (Jan. 15) from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost and Resilience has been jointly built by US and Japanese companies in a bid to energize missions to the moon.
At 1:11 am EST, the landers launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. To keep costs down, they shared the ride at first but went their separate ways about an hour into the flight, just as planned. Each is now taking its own roundabout path for the long journey ahead, which will last several months.
Falcon 9 launches two lunar landers to the Moon for @Firefly_Space and @ispace_inc pic.twitter.com/Jrb8MZcycp
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 15, 2025
The mission, called “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” is Firefly’s first trip to the moon with their Blue Ghost lander. It’s part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, carrying 10 NASA research and technology payloads to help the agency learn more about the lunar environment as they prepare to send astronauts back to the moon through the Artemis Program.
Deployment of the @ispace_inc RESILIENCE lunar lander confirmed pic.twitter.com/ep3N05MkTm
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 15, 2025
For ispace, this is their second lunar mission. Their Hakuto-R lander reached lunar orbit in March 2023, but unfortunately, it crashed during its touchdown attempt the following month.
Deployment of @Firefly_Space’s Blue Ghost lunar lander confirmed pic.twitter.com/6HpA2Xl7cM
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) January 15, 2025
Blue Ghost, named after a species of fireflies found in the Southeastern US, is expected to reach the moon first. At 2 meters tall, the lander aims to touch down in early March at Mare Crisium, a volcanic plain located in the moon’s northern latitudes.
The ispace lander, named Resilience, is a bit bigger and will take a little longer to get to the moon. Its journey will last about four to five months, with a planned touchdown in late May or early June at Mare Frigoris, even farther north on the moon’s near side.
SpaceX’s ‘race to the moon’Earlier this week, ispace’s founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada said: “We don’t think this is a race. Some people say ‘race to the moon,’ but it’s not about the speed.”
Firefly CEO Jason Kim added: “We’ve done everything we can on the design and the engineering.”
In a press release, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy stated: “Each flight we’re part of is vital step in the larger blueprint to establish a responsible, sustained human presence at the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Each scientific instrument and technology demonstration brings us closer to realizing our vision.”
The launch of Blue Ghost and Resilience sets the stage for an exciting year of moon missions. Houston-based Intuitive Machines, fresh off the successful lunar landing of its first Nova-C lander, Odysseus, in February 2024, is gearing up to launch its IM-2 mission as early as next month.
SpaceX is also planning to test an in-space propellant transfer between two docked Starships. The key milestone is crucial for refueling SpaceX’s Starship HLS vehicle, paving the way for an uncrewed moon landing demonstration the following year.
Featured image: SpaceX
The post SpaceX launches lunar landers Blue Ghost and Resilience on historic moon missions appeared first on ReadWrite.