SpaceX Successfully Launches Blue Ghost and Resilience Landers to the Moon
SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket has launched two lunar landers on their journey to the moon, marking a significant milestone for both companies involved
SpaceX, Blue Ghost, Resilience, Moon, Florida, NASA
Florida: Early Wednesday, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying two lunar landers. The Blue Ghost from Firefly Aerospace and the Resilience from ispace are now on their way to the moon.
The rocket took off at 1:11 a.m. EST from Kennedy Space Center. This launch was special as it marked the 100th Falcon rocket launch from that site.
Firefly Aerospace was pretty excited, saying, “Blue Ghost is on its way to orbit! Go Ghost Riders in the sky!” It’s always cool to see companies celebrating their achievements.
After the launch, the Falcon 9’s first-stage booster made a successful return to Earth, landing on a droneship in the Atlantic. It was its fifth flight, so that’s quite a feat!
This mission is the first for the Blue Ghost lander and the second try for the Resilience lander. Ispace is also sending a micro rover called Tenacious along with the Resilience lander.
The Blue Ghost mission is called “Ghost Riders in the Sky” and will carry ten science and tech payloads to the moon for NASA. It’s set to land in early March after a 45-day journey.
The Resilience lander will take about four to five months to reach the moon. It will deploy the Tenacious rover at an undisclosed spot.
Along with the rover, the Resilience will carry some cool commercial payloads, including a food-production experiment and a deep space radiation probe.
The Tenacious rover will even have a “Moonhouse” model home created by a Swedish artist. It’s going to collect rock and dust samples from the moon’s surface.
This mission is a big deal for ispace, especially after their first attempt to land on the moon failed last year. It’s also SpaceX’s first lunar launch, kicking off a series of missions for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program this year.