After Blue Ghost successfully landed on the Moon at the beginning of March, it has now been spotted by an orbiting NASA spacecraft.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter picked out Blue Ghost among the craters that pattern the Moon — Blue Ghost is the size of a small car.
The Firefly Aerospace vehicle touched down in volcanic terrain known as Mare Crisium. NASA describes Blue Ghost’s new neighborhood as a “large, dark, basaltic plain on the moon that filled an ancient asteroid impact.”
NASA shared a GIF showing the area before Blue Ghost arrived and an after picture showing the vehicle present on the terrain. It is a tiny light gray speck that casts a small shadow.
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this before-and-after view of @Firefly_Space‘s Blue Ghost Mission 1 landing site. The post-landing image taken on March 3 shows how the lander’s engine altered the lunar surface. https://t.co/Oc9ZOqbPIv pic.twitter.com/zXVFAvmxgM
— NASA Moon (@NASAMoon) March 11, 2025
While Blue Ghost successfully touched down on the Moon, others were not so lucky: A photo of the Athena Moon lander lying on its side this week confirmed that the spacecraft suffered a fatal mishap while attempting a landing.
Initial signs of trouble emerged soon after Athena’s descent. While the lander reached the Moon’s surface near its intended destination at Mons Mouton, it ultimately came to rest about 800 feet from its target. The spacecraft’s inability to maintain an upright position prevented most of its scientific payloads from functioning as planned.
Out of the four vehicles that received funding from NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program — which aims to use private-sector partnerships to deliver scientific instruments to the Moon at a lower cost — only one has been successful.
Image credits: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University
