Firefly’s Lunar Lander Captures Haunting Earth Eclipse From Space

Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander began its journey to the Moon a little over a week ago, and the mission has already beamed back stellar snapshots from space. In addition to checking off a list of critical milestones, Blue Ghost also captured a classic photo of Earth and caught a brief moment of darkness as Earth eclipsed the Sun.

Blue Ghost launched on Wednesday, January 15, on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, headed from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida toward the Moon. The mission, named “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” will spend 45 days traveling through space before attempting a soft touchdown on the lunar surface.

Shortly after liftoff, Blue Ghost captured its first image from space. The image shows the top deck of the lander, with the X-band antenna and NASA’s LEXI payload visible under a bright flare from the Sun’s light.

Six of Blue Ghost’s payloads are already sending initial data back to Earth, while one payload, LuGRE, began its science operations, according to a Firefly Aerospace statement. “Developed by the Italian Space Agency, LuGRE is tracking signals from GPS and Galileo satellites during our Earth to Moon transit to test signal acquisition and usage along the way,” the company wrote.

On January 18, the team at Firefly carried out Blue Ghost’s first engine burn, firing up the lander’s thrusters and main engines in space for the first time. The engine burn brought the spacecraft closer to Earth in preparation for its upcoming maneuvers.

As it orbits Earth, Blue Ghost captured a stunning eclipse from space. But rather than seeing the Moon wedge itself between us and the Sun, the lander viewed Earth briefly blocking the Sun’s light.

Blue Ghost is set to orbit Earth for 25 days before performing an engine burn to place it on a trajectory toward the Moon. Blue Ghost will spend four days en route to the Moon, and another 16 orbiting Earth’s satellite before attempting to land on its dusty surface.

The spacecraft captured stunningly impressive views of our planet while performing a second engine burn. The lander has about two weeks left in Earth’s orbit, and it’s taking full advantage of that time

Once it reaches the Moon, Blue Ghost is targeting Mare Crisium, the site of an ancient asteroid impact site once filled with basaltic lava. The basalts in Mare Crisium are between 2.5 and 3.3 billion years old, according to NASA. The lander is packed with 10 scientific instruments to study the lunar surface and gather data to support future human missions to the Moon as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.

The Moon is about to be a busy place, with more of these commercial trips planned this year, including ispace’s Resilience lander, which launched to the Moon alongside Blue Ghost but is set to reach the lunar surface in a few months time.