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The Artemis missions will build a community on the Moon, driving a new lunar economy and inspiring a new generation. Narrator Drew Barrymore and NASA team me…

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Chandrayaan-3 Facts For Kids | AstroSafe Search

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Discover Chandrayaan-3 in AstroSafe Search Spacecrafts section. Safe, educational content for kids 5-12. Explore fun facts!

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Names

Mission type
Lunar landing

Operator
Firefly Aerospace

Mission duration

1 month, 20 days (elapsed)

Spacecraft properties

Spacecraft
Blue Ghost

Manufacturer

Firefly Aerospace

Launch mass

1,517 kg (3,344 lb)

BOL mass

1,469 kg (3,239 lb)

Dry mass

469 kg (1,034 lb)

Dimensions

Height: 2 m (6 ft 7 in)
Width: 3.5 m (11 ft)

Power

400 watts

Start of mission

Launch date

06:06, March 7, 2025 ( ET) (Purge ) (January 15, 2025, 06:11:39 UTC)

Rocket

Falcon 9 Block 5 (B1085.5), Flight 425

Launch site

Kennedy, LC-39A

Contractor
SpaceX

Lunar lander

Landing date

March 2, 2025, 08:34 UTC

Landing site

Mare Crisium near Mons Latreille
18°34′N 61°49′E ﻿ / ﻿ 18.56°N 61.81°E

Mission insignia

Blue Ghost Mission 1 is a robotic Moon landing mission conducted by Firefly Aerospace, launched on January 15, 2025 and landing on the Moon on March 2, 2025 at 08:34 UTC. Firefly Aerospace thus became the first commercial company to successfully soft-land a spacecraft on the Moon. As part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, the mission delivered ten scientific investigations and technology demonstrations to support future human exploration of the Moon under the broader Artemis program. The Blue Ghost lunar lander, developed and tested over several years, launched successfully aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket alongside the Hakuto-R Mission 2 lander from Kennedy Space Center.

The Blue Ghost lander was designed for a soft landing on the lunar surface and a 60-day operational mission. It delivered a 94-kilogram (207 lb) payload to Mare Crisium, a 500-kilometer-wide (310 mi) lunar basin. The mission's objectives include analyzing lunar regolith properties, studying geophysical characteristics, and investigating interactions between the solar wind and Earth's magnetic field. The lander carries advanced instruments such as a regolith adherence characterization device, a lunar retroreflector for precision distance measurements, a radiation-tolerant computer, and thermal exploration probes, among other scientific payloads.

On February 4, 2021, NASA awarded Firefly a contract worth US$93.3 million to deliver a suite of ten science investigations and technology demonstrations to the Moon in 2023. The award is part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, in which NASA is securing the service of commercial partners to quickly land science and technology payloads on the lunar surface as part of the Artemis program.

On May 20, 2021, Firefly Aerospace announced its selection of SpaceX's Falcon 9 Block 5 as the launch vehicle for the inaugural Blue Ghost lunar lander mission. This decision was made due to the Falcon 9's performance and payload capacity, which Firefly's Alpha rocket could not provide. The company indicated that its future Medium Launch Vehicle would support subsequent Blue Ghost missions.

Development milestones for the Blue Ghost lander progressed steadily over the following years. On April 26, 2022, Firefly completed the Integration Readiness Review for the lander, with a tentative launch date set for 2024. In November 2023, Firefly refined the schedule, specifying a launch window between the third and fourth quarters of 2024.

By May 2024, the engines for Blue Ghost were completed, and their integration into the lander was confirmed in June. Firefly announced that preparations were proceeding as planned, with the company reaffirming a Q4 2024 launch target in July. Environmental testing of the lander commenced in August at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), ensuring the spacecraft's readiness for the rigors of spaceflight.

In November 2024, Firefly Aerospace formally announced that the Blue Ghost lander was fully prepared for launch, setting a mid-January 2025 launch date. Payload encapsulation was completed on January 10, marking one of the final steps in the pre-launch sequence. On January 15, 2025, the Blue Ghost lander successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A at 06:11:39 UTC (1:11:39am EST, local time at the launch site) aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket. The mission also included Hakuto-R Mission 2 as a co-manifested payload.

On March 2, 2025 at 2:34 am CST, the mission successfully landed on the lunar surface. The mission is intended to last up to 14 Earth days, until lunar sunset.

Blue Ghost has four landing legs, communications, heating and solar power systems, and features multiple layers of insulation. The Blue Ghost solar panels, from subcontractor SolAero By Rocket Lab, provide a maximum of 400 watts of power. ASI by Rocket Lab provides flight, ground and GN&C software, trajectory design, orbit determination, and software testbed integration. Firefly asserts that its in-house end-to-end manufacturing and testing of the Blue Ghost structure is a differentiator among the CLPS landers.

The mission landed at Mare Crisium, a 500-kilometer-wide (310 mi) basin visible from Earth. The lander's scientific instruments will collect data on the properties of the Moon's regolith-its loose, fragmented rock and soil-as well as its geophysical characteristics and the interactions between the solar wind and Earth's magnetic field. These findings will contribute to the preparation and planning of future human missions to the lunar surface.

The payloads, collectively expected to total 94 kilograms (207 lb) in mass, include:

The Regolith Adherence Characterization (RAC) will determine to what degree the abrasive lunar regolith sticks to, or is repelled by, a range of materials, e.g. solar cells, optical systems, coatings, and sensors; the diverse components are derived from the MISSE-FF facility currently on the International Space Station (ISS).

The Next Generation Lunar Retroreflectors (NGLR) will serve as a target for lasers on Earth to precisely measure the distance between Earth and the Moon. The retroreflector that will fly on this mission will also provide data that could be used to understand various aspects of the lunar interior and address fundamental physics questions.

The Lunar Environment Heliospheric X-ray Imager (LEXI), which will capture images of the interaction of Earth's magnetosphere with the flow of charged particles from the Sun, called the solar wind.

The Reconfigurable, Radiation Tolerant Computer System (RadPC) aims to demonstrate a radiation-tolerant computing technology. Due to the Moon's lack of atmosphere and magnetic field, radiation from the Sun will be a challenge for electronics. This investigation will also characterize the effects of radiation on the lunar surface.

The Lunar Magnetotelluric Sounder (LMS) is designed to characterize the structure and composition of the Moon's mantle by studying electric and magnetic fields. For this, it plans to place electrodes across about 700 square meters of terrain.

The Lunar Instrumentation for Subsurface Thermal Exploration with Rapidity (LISTER) is designed to measure heat flow from the interior of the Moon. The probe will attempt to drill 2.13 to 3.05 meters (7 to 10 ft) into the lunar regolith to investigate the Moon's thermal properties at different depths.

The Lunar PlanetVac (LPV) is designed to acquire lunar regolith from the surface and transfer it to other instruments that would analyze the material or put it in a container that another spacecraft could return to Earth.

Stereo CAmeras for Lunar Plume Surface Studies (SCALPSS 1.1) will capture video and still images of the area under the lander from when the engine plume first disturbs the lunar surface through engine shutdown. Long-focal-length cameras will determine the pre-landing surface topography. Photogrammetry will be used to reconstruct the changing surface during landing. Understanding the physics of rocket exhaust on the regolith and the displacement of dust, gravel, and rocks is critical to understanding how to avoid kicking up surface materials during the terminal phase of flight/landing on the Moon and other celestial bodies.

The AstroVault, developed by Quantum Aerospace and Space Ark Media, is a lunar archive designed to preserve human culture, art, music, and knowledge for future generations. Encoded in an ultra-durable format, it will serve as a long-term repository of literature, scientific discoveries, and creative works, ensuring their preservation in the lunar environment.

The Electrodynamic Dust Shield (EDS) will generate a non-uniform electric field using varying high voltage on multiple electrodes. This traveling field, in turn, carries away the particles and has potential applications in thermal radiators, spacesuit fabrics, visors, camera lenses, solar panels, and many other technologies.

The Lunar GNSS Receiver Experiment (LuGRE), which is based on GPS. LuGRE will continue to extend the reach of GPS signals and, if successful, be the first to discern GPS signals at lunar distances.

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Learn Blue Ghost Mission 1 facts for kids

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The Rashid Rover didn’t make it to the Moon, but it’s a success for science

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While it did not land successfully on the Moon, the Rashid Rover, a major component of the Emirates Lunar Mission, is an incredible piece of tech. Dr. Hamad Al Marzooqi takes us through the details.

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Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crashed into the moon after it spun into an uncontrolled orbit*, the country's Roscosmos space agency said Sunday.

The pilotless spacecraft was aiming to be the first ever to land on the south pole of the moon, an area where scientists believe there could be important reserves* of frozen water and precious elements*. It had been expected to land Monday.

However, Roscosmos said it lost contact with the Luna-25 on Saturday after the spacecraft ran into difficulties and reported an "abnormal situation*".

"The apparatus* moved into an unpredictable* orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the moon," read a statement from the agency.

The Luna-25 was in a race with an Indian spacecraft launched on July 14 to be the first to reach the south pole. Both were expected to reach the moon between August 21 and 23.

Vitaly Egorov, a popular Russian space analyst*, said despite the crash the mission had some successes.

"Luna 25 showed important progress. It flew toward the moon, carried out orbit correction, and tested on-board electronics and scientific tools," he said via video call. "It even managed to collect some small scientific data during the flight and from the lunar orbit*. It also sent photos of the moon. Russian cosmonautics* was not at this level before. But then, an error occurred somehow."

The lunar mission was Russia's first since 1976, when it was part of the Soviet Union. Only three governments have managed successful moon landings: the Soviet Union, the United States and China.

The lunar south pole is of particular interest to scientists, who believe the permanently shadowed polar craters* may contain frozen water in the rocks that future explorers could transform into air and rocket fuel.

A previous Indian attempt to land at the south pole in 2019 ended when the spacecraft crashed into the moon's surface.

Roscosmos said it wanted to show Russia "is a state capable of delivering a payload* to the moon," and "ensure Russia's guaranteed access to the moon's surface."

Egorov said Roscosmos needs the experience of landing on the moon.

"It will not be able to talk with China on equal terms, because China has already had three successful landings on the moon, while Roscosmos has none," he said. "Roscosmos will lag starkly behind the Chinese lunar program*."
POLL GLOSSARY

uncontrolled orbit: a path that an object takes in space without being properly controlled or directed

re serves: supplies or quantities of something that is stored or available for use

precious elements: valuable substances or materials, often rare and important for various purposes

abnormal situation: a situation that is not normal or expected, often indicating a problem or difficulty

apparatus: a device or equipment used for a specific purpose

unpredictable: something that cannot be predicted or foreseen accurately

lunar orbit: the path that a spacecraft takes around the moon

analyst: a person who examines and interprets information or data to draw conclusions

cosmonautics: the science and technology of space travel

permanently shadowed polar craters: parts on the moon's surface that never receive direct sunlight

payload: the cargo or equipment carried by a spacecraft

lunar program: a series of planned activities and missions related to the moon

EXTRA READING Keeping time on the moon Water found in tiny beads of glass on the moon Humans living on moon by 2030 QUICK QUIZ

1. Why did Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft crash into the moon according to the Roscosmos space agency?

2. What was the purpose of the Luna-25 spacecraft's mission before it crashed?

3. How did the Luna-25's mission compare with the Indian spacecraft's objective regarding the moon's south pole?

4. How did the Luna-25 spacecraft run into difficulties before losing contact with Roscosmos?

5. What significance did Vitaly Egorov attribute to the Luna-25 mission despite its crash?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Race to the moon
Is a 'race to the moon' a good idea between two rival countries?

What possible implications could this have for both countries in the race?

What were the wins and losses of the Luna-25 Russian spacecraft mission?

WINS:

LOSSES:

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
Roscosmos said it wanted to show Russia "is a state capable of delivering a payload to the moon," and "ensure Russia's guaranteed access to the moon's surface."

What do you think this statement means?

What is a "payload" to the moon?

How would this guarantee access to the moon?

Time: allow 15 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Science, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Show you have read and understood the article by writing three sentences using the connectives "because'', "and", and "but" (BAB). Your sentences can share different facts or opinions, or the same ones but written about in different ways.

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Russia's first lunar mission in 47 years smashes into the moon

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A few hundred years ago, traveling over the Earth's surface was a risky adventure. Early explorers who set out to explore the New World went by boat, enduring fierce storms, disease and hunger, to reach their destinations. Today, astronauts exploring space face similar challenges.

Space travel has become much safer as scientists have overcome potential problems, but it's still dangerous. It's also very expensive. In order for a space shuttle to break free of Earth's gravity, it has to travel at a speed of 15,000 miles per hour. Space shuttles need 1.9 million liters of fuel just to launch into space. That's enough fuel to fill up 42,000 cars! Combine the high speed, heat and fuel needed for launching and you've got a very potentially dangerous situation.

Re-entering the atmosphere is dangerous too. When a space craft re-enters the atmosphere, it is moving very fast. As it moves through the air, friction causes it to heat up to a temperature of 2,691 degrees. The first spacecrafts were destroyed during re-entry. Today's space shuttles have special ceramic tiles that help absorb some of the heat, keeping the astronauts safe during re-entry.

Fun Facts about Space Travel for Kids

One space shuttle launch costs $450 million.

The German V2 was the first rocket to reach space in 1942.

In 1947, fruit flies were launched into space. Scientists wanted to see how they reacted to space travel. Later, in 1949, Albert II, a Rhesus monkey went to space. In 1957, the Russian space dog, Laika, orbited the Earth. Scientists wanted to make sure space travel was safe for humans. Sending animals first gave them valuable information about how bodies react to being in space.

In 1959, the Russian space craft, Luna 2, landed on the moon. It crashed at high speed. Fortunately, it was an unmanned craft with no astronauts inside.

Russian astronaut, Yuri Gagarin, was the first human in space. He orbited the Earth in 1961.

In 1963, the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, entered space.

The first U.S. spacecraft landed on the moon in 1966.

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon and return home safely - a journey of 250,000 miles.

In 1970, Apollo 13 was headed to the moon when an explosion on board caused serious problems. The astronauts fixed the problems with materials they had on hand and returned home safely.

US astronauts returned to the moon three more times in 1971.

1981 marked the first space shuttle that could be used again. Six shuttles have been built since then.

In 1986, Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after launch, killing all seven astronauts onboard, including school teacher, Christa McAuliffe.

Since 2000, permanent crews have been living and working in space at the International Space Station.

In 2001, the first private citizen, millionaire Dennis Tito, toured space. He paid $20 million to spend a week in space.

Learn More All About Space Travel

Check out this cool video all about space travel:

A video about the N.E.X.T. mission for space travel by NASA.

Enjoyed the Easy Science for Kids Website all about Space Travel info? Take the FREE & fun all about Space Travel quiz and download FREE Space Travel worksheet for kids. For lengthy info click here.

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Easy Science for Kids Space Travel - learn fun facts about animals, the human body, our planet and much more. Fun free Space Travel activities!

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NASA's Human Research Program has organized the 5 hazards of human spaceflight astronauts will encounter on a continual basis into five classifications.

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Japan's SLIM lander touchdown may have given an entirely new definition to the expression "on the nose."

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ( JAXA) representatives revealed that the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon ( SLIM) made a strange but precise landing on the moon. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday (Jan. 25), JAXA scientists said that SLIM had touched down within 328 feet (100 meters) of its selected lunar landing site on Jan. 19, accomplishing its primary mission of making a pinpoint landing.

"We proved that you can land wherever you want, rather than where you are able to," SLIM project manager Shinichiro Sakai said at the press conference, according to Reuters. "This will inspire more and more people, desirably Japanese missions, to try to land on unexplored places on the moon."
Related: Japan's SLIM moon lander photographed on the lunar surface (image)
SLIM, which is nicknamed " moon sniper," marks a significant improvement in terms of landing precision when compared to previous lunar probes, which have set down within miles of their target locations rather than meters.

JAXA says the landing could help validate the vision-based navigation used by SLIM, which could be a powerful tool for future exploration of the lunar surface. "The fact that we were able to achieve accuracy of less than 10 meters, possibly within 3 to 4 meters, is an extremely significant accomplishment for future lunar explorations," Sakai said, according to Japan Times.

Images of SLIM taken by the baseball-sized robot rover Lunar Exploration Vehicle-2 or SORA-Q, which was released by the spacecraft just before landing, revealed that in achieving this precise landing, SLIM came down rotated at 90 degrees, effectively landing on the tip of its nose.

Japan Times reported that Sakai explained that JAXA scientists believe that SLIM's strangely orientated landing came about as a result of one of its two main engines stopping during the 30 seconds or so of touchdown and at an altitude of around 165 feet (50 meters) over the moon.

Japan Times added that Sakai said that the loss of the engine was the result of an undisclosed "external factor," adding a camera had captured an engine nozzle lying on the lunar surface. The team continues to analyze the cause of this failure.

This engine failure caused SLIM to drift 180 feet (55 meters) away from its chosen landing site. Without the glitch, SLIM could have landed as close as 10 to 13 feet from the selected region of the moon.

The SORA-Q image shows the shift in position meant that SLIM set down on the slopped ridge of a lunar crater. This incline caused the spacecraft to roll westwards onto its nose.

The positioning of SLIM means that the spacecraft has been unable to use its solar panels to generate electricity thus far, with engineers switching off SLIM's battery around two and half hours after touchdown to preserve power. JAXA scientists remain hopeful that this situation will change when the direction of sunlight on the moon changes.

But all hopes of SLIM reviving will vanish with the sunlight next week on Feb. 1 when night falls on the moon, bringing intense cold. "SLIM is not designed to survive a lunar night," Sakai explained.

The SLIM landing makes Japan only the fifth country to make a soft landing on the moon after Russia (then the Soviet Union), the U.S., China, and India.
Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.
Interest in making precision landings on the moon is ramping up as several nations seek to return human crews to the lunar surface for the first time in decades. Landing close to locations thought to be rich in water ice and other resources will be key to establishing a sustainable human presence on the moon. The United States aims to land crews on the moon no earlier than 2026 with its Artemis 3 mission, while China wants to put its own boots on the moon by the end of the decade.

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'We proved that you can land wherever you want.' Japan's SLIM moon probe nailed precise lunar landing, JAXA says

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Japan's SLIM spacecraft made a strange but precise lunar landing, touching the moon with the tip of its nose as it landed incredibly close its target location.

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Many areas of science and technology have made advances due to technological breakthroughs resulting from the manned exploration of space.

To get into orbit, powerful engines are required to provide thrust and hence velocity . Survival in space requires excellent environment control systems.

NASA has had to patent many applications to accomplish their tasks. Some examples include: water filters, ear thermometers, scratch resistant lenses, memory foam, shoe insoles, long distance communication, smoke detectors, enriched baby food and cordless tools.

Other benefits have included the development of satellites and associated technologies. With satellites we can communicate with anyone at almost any point on Earth. We can monitor weather systems to help predict the weather and we can monitor environmental conditions such as temperature and water content as well as gravitational field strength and the Earth's magnetic field .

We can also navigate ourselves with GPS (global positioning system). This system uses 3 satellites at any single time to pinpoint your location but there is a system of about 35 satellites that help us do this.

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Benefits of space exploration - Space exploration - National 5 Physics Revision - BBC Bitesize

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Many areas of science and technology have made advances due to technological breakthroughs resulting from the manned exploration of space. To get into orbit, powerful engines are required to provide thrust and hence velocity . Survival in space requires excellent environment control systems. NASA has had to patent many applications to accomplish their tasks.

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Astronauts are known to experience "space anaemia" - a lack of red blood cells - while on space missions, but until now it was thought to be temporary.

Dr Guy Trudel from the University of Ottawa, who led a study of 14 astronauts explained, "As long as you are in space, you are destroying more blood cells than you are making."

"Having fewer red blood cells in space is not a problem when your body is weightless."

"But after landing on Earth, and potentially on other planets, anaemia could affect astronauts' energy, endurance and strength," he added.

Normally, the body destroys and replaces nearly 2 million red blood cells per second.

The study found astronauts' bodies destroyed 3 million red blood cells per second during their six-month missions - so dealing with that is something Nasa are thinking hard about.
Would you like to become an astronaut or go into space? Let us know in the comments below!

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Astronauts: What are the effects of space travel on the human body?

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Understanding the effects of spaceflight on humans is more important than ever, as scientists plan to send astronauts on longer missions to the Moon and Mars.

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Athena lander ‘on her side’ on moon’s surface, ending mission in similar fashion to first launch

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Intuitive Machines announced its second mission to the moon has ended after Athena, its lunar lander, fell ‘on her side.’

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Hope, the United Arab Emirates’ Mars mission

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The UAE Hope Mars Mission is building a complete picture of Mars’ climate.

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Mars Rock Samples: The Stories They Could Tell

NASA's Mars Perseverance rover is building a unique rock collection, which also includes samples of Mars atmosphere and loose surface material. These samples record the history of the Jezero Crater landing site, and may even preserve signs of ancient life. Learn more about these precious samples, which Mars Sample Return could deliver to Earth for detailed study in the future.

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Mars 2020: Perseverance Rover - NASA Science

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Meet Perseverance Landing Site: Jezero Crater NASA chose Jezero Crater as the landing site for the Perseverance rover. Scientists believe the area was once flooded with water and was home to an ancient river delta. The process of landing site selection involved a combination of mission team members and scientists from around the world, who [...]

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Landing Site: Gale Crater

Curiosity explores Gale Crater and acquires rock, soil, and air samples for onboard analysis. The car-size rover is about as tall as a basketball player and uses a 7 foot-long arm to place tools close to rocks selected for study. Curiosity's large size allows it to carry an advanced kit of 10 science instruments. It has tools including 17 cameras, a laser to vaporize and study small pinpoint spots of rocks at a distance, and a drill to collect powdered rock samples. It hunts for special rocks that formed in water and/or have signs of organics.

The Curiosity rover has taught us a lot about the history of Mars and its potential to support life. Take a tour of its landing site, Gale Crater. Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech

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Mars Science Laboratory: Curiosity Rover - NASA Science