Firefly Aerospace has published unique videos taken from the onboard cameras of the Blue Ghost probe. They demonstrate its landing on the Moon.
Blue Ghost was launched to the Moon under a contract won by Firefly Aerospace under the CLPS program. Its science workload is represented by ten instruments provided by NASA. The spacecraft landed on March 2. With this success, Firefly Aerospace became the second company in history, after Intuitive Machines, to land its vehicle on the Moon — and the first to do so without any problems.
Firefly Aerospace took a very responsible approach to media coverage of the mission. The company regularly publishes extremely spectacular shots of the Blue Ghost in flight. Examples include his selfies against the backdrop of Earth, timelapses of the flight over the backside of the Moon, or the first images from the lunar surface.
But the new video is even more spectacular than that. It shows the Blue Ghost landing process. We can see the spacecraft approaching the cratered surface of Mare Crisium, gradually decreasing in altitude. The final shots show the craft’s shadow on the lunar surface and the dust clouds it raised, all against the backdrop of Earth in the black sky.
Blue Ghost is designed to operate for 14 Earth days. On March 14, the spacecraft is set to witness a total solar eclipse on the Moon. It is possible that Firefly Aerospace will once again delight us with some very nice images.
