CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The first private lunar lander to complete a successful moon mission went dark this weekend.
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Lunar Lander shut down as the sun set on the lunar surface, which cut power to its solar panels.
The Cedar Park-based company launched the lander from Cape Canaveral in January.
Blue Ghost touched down on March 2 and ran all 10 NASA science experiments without issue. It even watched last week’s solar eclipse from the moon.
Firefly’s CEO said the mission is complete and photos of the final lunar sunset will be released on Tuesday.
“Mission is completed,” Firefly CEO Jason Kim said via X late Sunday night. “But the Ghost still lives on in our hearts and minds for the journey it’s taken us on!”
Mission is completed…but the Ghost still lives on in our hearts and minds for the journey it’s taken us on! And can’t wait until the remarkable Sunset and Glow images get released on Tuesday at the @NASA press conference! https://t.co/Snvk5uCerO
— Jason Kim (@Jason_Lil_Kim) March 17, 2025
The lander operated five hours into the lunar night as planned before it died Sunday evening.
“Goodnight friends,” the lander’s final message from the moon said.
The lander carried a drill, vacuum and other science and tech instruments for NASA.
Firefly now stands as the first private company to land on the moon without a crash. It comes after several failed attempts by other firms. Only five countries – the U.S., Russia, China, India and Japan – have achieved a successful landing.
A Japanese company’s lunar lander shared the SpaceX rocket ride, but took an even longer route to get to the moon. That lander from ispace is targeting an early June touchdown.
Another Texas company, Intuitive Machines, sent a lander that ended up sideways in a crater near the moon’s south pole earlier this month, dooming the mission. It was the second incomplete mission for Intuitive Machines. Its first lander put the U.S. back on the moon last year for the first time since the Apollo era after a less-than-perfect landing that hampered communications.
Firefly is already working on its next lunar lander and striving for one moon landing a year.