Private U.S. spacecraft lands upright on moon for first time.

• Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 successfully landed on the moon, marking the second private mission to achieve this milestone.
• The spacecraft was “stable and upright,” unlike the previous private landing in February.
• The mission, nicknamed “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” is part of a NASA-industry partnership aimed at reducing costs and supporting Artemis, the program designed to return astronauts to the moon.
• The mission, launched on January 15, carries 10 instruments, including a lunar soil analyzer, a radiation-tolerant computer, and an experiment testing the feasibility of using the global satellite navigation system to navigate the Moon.
• Blue Ghost is expected to capture high-definition imagery of a total eclipse on March 14 and a lunar sunset on March 16.