Watch: Blue Ghost spacecraft reveals incredible footage of the dark side of the moon

Firefly Aerospace Blue Ghost spacecraft is rapidly approaching its historic lunar landing, with its highly anticipated descent scheduled for March 2, 2025. Having inserted into lunar orbit this month, the spacecraft has now begun to begin sending stunning imagery back, providing a closer look at the surface of the Moon, particularly the far side of the Moon that is hidden from Earth. These pictures provide a glimpse of virgin land on the Moon, and it's a big success for the mission and space exploration as a whole.

Blue Ghost lunar lander captures moon footage

In a landmark moment, Firefly Aerospace posted high-definition video of the spacecraft mission on their official X account (formerly Twitter). The video, filmed 120 km above the surface of the Moon, provides an up-close view of the far side of the Moon—a side previously never seen from Earth. The Moon's surface is seen to be rocky and cratered with many craters, which over billions of years have been caused by asteroid and other space body impacts.




The spacecraft's Twitter handle's tweet after the video said, "Earthrise, Earth set, repeat!", which implied that Blue Ghost had successfully performed its third orbital maneuver. The Reaction Control System (RCS) of the spacecraft then did a 16-second burn, settling it into a near-circular low lunar
orbit.

Blue Ghost completes final orbit adjustment and prepares for lunar descent

With the third and final orbital maneuver successfully completed, Blue Ghost is now firmly on track for its scheduled descent to the Moon's Mare Crisium. Over the next few days, the spacecraft will execute a 19-second burn, which will further tighten its trajectory and set it up for its landing on the lunar surface. This last descent will take the spacecraft to the Mare Crisium area, a flat, smooth region of the Moon's surface where Blue Ghost will try to land on March 2, 2025.


The Blue Ghost journeys started on January 15, 2025, with the launch of the spacecraft from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Following successful launch and rocket separation, the spacecraft entered communication with Firefly Aerospace's Mission Operations Center in Cedar Park, Texas. Blue Ghost was 25 days in Earth orbit during the mission prior to leaving for the Moon and an additional four days in transit to the Moon. On arrival in lunar orbit, the spacecraft spent further 16 days in orbit around the Moon.


Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost mission is a turning point in Moon exploration and the space sector at large.



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