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Mission record

Blue Ghost Mission 1

Also known as Blue Ghost Mission One

Firefly Aerospace · Launched

Explore trajectory

Completed · Success

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1 launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9, landed successfully on the Moon, and concluded its mission in March 2025.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
SpaceX Falcon 9
Launch site
Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Countries
United States
Mission types
Lander

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched at 1:11 a.m. EST aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9

    The cited source reports 1:11 a.m. EST (UTC−5), converted to 06:11 UTC.

    Earth

  2. Deployment

    Blue Ghost deployed into highly elliptical Earth orbit

    Firefly reports deployment at 2:17 a.m. EST (07:17 UTC, UTC−5). This event time does not supply a six-dimensional state; the first archived cruise state begins at 07:31:36.001Z, so the interval from deployment to that state remains unsupported.

    Earth

  3. Milestone

    Firefly acquired signal from Blue Ghost

    Firefly reports signal acquisition at 2:26 a.m. EST (07:26 UTC, UTC−5). This communications milestone does not supply a spacecraft state.

    Earth

  4. Milestone

    First Earth-orbit engine burn complete

    Firefly reports that the first burn with the RCS thrusters and main engine increased perigee and achieved delta-V within 2 mm/s of its target. The published update gives the date but no burn time or state vector.

    Earth

  5. Milestone

    Second Earth-orbit engine burn complete

    Firefly reports that the second engine burn, also the first critical burn, adjusted Blue Ghost's apogee using the Spectre RCS thrusters. The published update gives the date but no burn time, achieved delta-V, or state vector.

    Earth

  6. Milestone

    Trans-lunar injection burn complete

    Firefly reported completion of the trans-lunar injection burn on February 8, 2025, beginning the four-day transit to lunar orbit. The update gives no burn time or state vector.

    Earth

  7. Orbit insertion

    Lunar orbit insertion burn began

    Firefly reports the burn began at 7:51 p.m. CST on February 13, 2025 (2025-02-14 01:51 UTC; CST is UTC−6). This timestamp is a mission update, not a state vector.

    Moon

  8. Milestone

    Second lunar orbit maneuver complete

    Firefly reports a 3 minute 18 second burn at 3:09 a.m. on February 18, 2025, lowering the spacecraft from a high elliptical lunar orbit. The update does not state a timezone for this time, so the catalog preserves only the reported calendar date.

    Moon

  9. Milestone

    Third lunar orbit maneuver complete

    Firefly reports a 16-second burn early on February 24, 2025, inserting Blue Ghost into a near-circular low lunar orbit with a 100 km perilune. No exact time or state vector is published in the update.

    Moon

  10. Milestone

    Descent orbit insertion complete

    Firefly confirmed descent orbit insertion at 1:49 a.m. CST on March 2, 2025 (07:49 UTC; CST is UTC−6). The update reports an approximately 30-minute coast before powered descent; it does not publish a state vector at the burn.

    Moon

  11. Milestone

    Powered descent initiation

    Firefly reports powered descent initiation at 2:22 a.m. CST on March 2, 2025 (08:22 UTC; CST is UTC−6). This event anchor does not substitute for the archived EDL trajectory states.

    Moon

  12. Landing

    Blue Ghost first ground contact on the Moon

    Moon

  13. Mission end

    Concluded its mission

    Moon

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Blue Ghost Mission 1 · Lander

    Destinations: Moon

Trajectory record

Time-dependent navigation trajectory

Source states place the model at the selected time. Reconstructed flight, estimates, predictions and historical mission plans are identified by interval; gaps remain visible.

J2000 · Sun-centered display · positions interpolated between source states

Coverage: January 15, 2025 to March 2, 2025

Source records and sampling assumptions are retained with the repository data. Model attitude and surface appearance are illustrative.

  • Blue Ghost: NASA CLPS/NAIF flight SPICE: reconstructed cruise and descent with a predicted STK interval after orbit-determination cutoff. Coverage starts at the first archived cruise state and ends 1 ms before first contact; the launch-to-coverage gap and two unresolved 1 ms navigation discontinuities remain uncovered. J2000 source states are translated to the Sun origin with DE440s. No launch state or post-contact motion is inferred. · January 15, 2025 to March 2, 2025

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through October 10, 2026