An American startup’s robotic spacecraft successfully landed on the moon’s near side early Sunday morning. The Blue Ghost lander, constructed by Firefly Aerospace of Cedar Park, Texas, touched down at 3:34 a.m. Eastern time. “You all stuck the landing,” said Will Coogan, the Blue Ghost chief engineer, during a livestream from the flight operations room. “We’re on the moon.” This achievement was a significant success for the company, surpassing what many others have attempted. “We got some moon dust on our boots,” added Jason Kim, the chief executive of Firefly, shortly after.
In the 21st century, several countries, companies, and organizations have tried to softly land on the moon, but only China has achieved complete success on the first try. Others, including attempts from India, Russia, an Israeli nonprofit, and a Japanese company, all resulted in crashes and new craters on the lunar surface.
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