Soon also manned

Two lunar missions launched with one rocket

The "Falcon 9" rocket lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, with two lunar landers on board.

(Bild: APA/Associated Press)

Two commercial lunar landers have begun their journey to Earth's satellite. With the help of a Falcon 9 rocket from tech billionaire Elon Musk's aerospace company SpaceX, they lifted off from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the US state of Florida and were successfully launched, as live images from the US space agency NASA showed. This marks the start of a year full of moon missions.

According to NASA, in addition to the two landers that have now been sent off, five more unmanned flights to the moon with soft landings on the surface are planned as part of its programs alone. At the top of the Falcon 9 rocket was the Blue Ghost lunar lander, developed and built by Texas-based Firefly Aerospace.

The second lunar lander is "Resilience" from the Japanese start-up ispace. The first is due to arrive on the moon in around 45 days, the second in four to five months.

Space X published pictures of the launch of the rocket on X: 

"Blue Ghost" is to prepare for manned moon missions
The "Blue Ghost", which is around two meters high and three meters wide, contains materials and instruments for ten scientific investigations by NASA, which will be used to study the moon for around two weeks in preparation for manned missions there. Among other things, it is about how dust deposits can be prevented with self-cleaning glass.

After two weeks, i.e. a whole day on the moon, the sun will set at the landing site. "Blue Ghost" will take photos of this spectacle and provide data on how the loose rock on the moon reacts to the influence of the sun at dusk. The mission, called "Ghost Riders in the Sky", is the first lunar mission of the Texas-based company Firefly Aerospace, which has so far mainly developed launch vehicles.

The lunar module "Blue Ghost"

(Bild: APA/AP)

"Resilience" also carries the mini-vehicle "Tenacious", which is designed to explore the lunar surface and collect loose material with a scoop. Also on board is an art project by Swede Mikael Genberg. It is a small red and white house, a typical Swedish house.

Landings are planned in two different regions of the moon: "Blue Ghost" is to touch down in the so-called "Mare Crisium", a lowland plain with a diameter of around 500 kilometers. "Resilience" is heading for a shallow lunar sea, the "Mare Frigoris".

"Ghost Riders in the Sky" mission
Firefly Aerospace's mission is part of NASA's CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) program. With this program, the US space agency wants to gather as much knowledge as possible on its own way back to the moon comparatively cheaply and efficiently by awarding contracts for moon landings to private companies and working together with them.

NASA wants to put humans on the moon again after more than 50 years. But the first manned launch is repeatedly delayed. The first orbit is now planned for 2026, with a landing on the moon scheduled for 2027.

Previous private missions not so successful
Last year, two missions were already launched as part of the CLPS program. In January, the Pittsburgh-based company Astrobotic sent off the "Peregrine" capsule. Shortly after the launch, however, there were problems due to a malfunction in the propulsion system. The goal of a moon landing had to be abandoned.

In February 2024, the company Intuitive Machines succeeded in making the first commercial landing on the moon with the "Nova-C" lander. However, the lander tipped over during touchdown. Lunar landings are considered to be technically highly challenging and often go wrong.