The robotic spacecraft from the American startup gently laid on Lava Plain on the moon near the side early Sunday morning.
Lander Blue Ghost, built aerospace at Cedar Park in Texas, set off down in the eastern time of 3:34.
“You all landed,” said Coogan, head engineer Blue Ghost, during a living current from the flight operating room. “We’re on the Moon.”
A few minutes later, Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly, proudly said, “We got some monthly dust on the shoes.”
For about half an hour, the spacecraft feels back its first photo of the moon’s surface.
It was a remarkable success for society that has achieved what many others do not have.
Between countries, companies and organizations that tried in the 21st century to stand for the Moon, only China can request the first attempt. Others included those from India, Russia, Israeli non -profit organizations and Japanese society, all crashed and carved new craters on the lunar surface.
Last year, two Landers – one feels Jaxa, a Japanese space agency and the other intuitive machines in Houston – successfully landed and communicated with the country. But both of them were overthrown and reduced what the spacecraft could achieve on the surface of the moon.
Intuitive machines were the first private company to successfully land on the Moon. Firefly is now second. Both are part of NASA’s efforts to use a private enterprise to reduce the cost of receiving a scientific and technological useful load to the Moon. Firefly pays $ 101.5 million for this mission.
“What Firefly demonstrates today, I think it looked easy, but it is incredibly difficult,” said Joel Kearns, representative of the administrator for exploration in the Directorate of the NASA scientific mission, during a press conference after landing.
Success is provided in “evidence existence” that NASA’s approach in finance can work such a mission, said Dr. Kearns.
Sales of launching from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centers in Florida in January. 15, Blue Ghost spacecraft worked almost flawless.
“We had some main anomalies, which is fantastic,” said Ray Allensworth, program director of Blue Ghost at Firefly, during a living stream.
About an hour before landing, the spacecraft made the pre -programmad command to fire its main engine for 19 seconds to start from the 62 miles high orbit on the mines towards the surface.
At that moment, the spacecraft was behind the moon and off the road. Nobody in the flight operating room knew how the spacecraft was leading until it appeared about 20 minutes later.
When he disappeared from the lunar side, all the system worked as expected, and Blue Ghost was that if he assumed it.
About 11 minutes before landing, Lander, who traveled at 3,800 miles per hour, fired a hand engine again to slow down. For the last few minutes of the descent he turned to vertical orientation, avoided risks and stood at the pace of slow walks.
“Oh my God, we did it!” Then Mrs. Allensworth screamed. “It’s amazing.” My heart beats so fast. ”
The place of landing lies in the mare mare, a flat plain made of lava, which was a daughter and hardened inside a 345 miles crater carved asteroid. Krisium mare is on the northeastern quadrant of the closest side of the month.
The mission is to last about 14 earthly days until the lunar sunset.
Lander carries 10 NASA tools within the commercial program of the Lunar useful service or Clps. Several are focused on lunar dust, which is often angular, sticky and sharp – back for machinery and potential health problem for future astronauts.
“Let’s look at how Dust is maintained by various materials,” said Maria Banks, a project scientist for NASA Clps during a press conference before running. “Moravy stereo depictions when we go down to the surface to see that the rocket pen affects the lunar regolith.” And we go to test the use of electromagnetism to alleviate or accumulate dust. ”
The spacecraft receiver successfully monitored global navigation signals in the lunar orbit. This suggests that signals from American GPS and European satellites Galileo used for navigation on Earth could also help the spacecraft find the way around the moon.
“By doing this in a lunar orbit and a lunar surface, we are opening a whole new way to navigate in the future,” said James Miller, NASA official working on the instrument, during a preliminary press conference.
The X -ray binoculars look back on the ground to capture the global view of the interaction between the magnetic field of the Earth and the charged participation of the solar wind.
“We perceive the first global image of the magnetic field to understand how it moves as the function of time in the sun,” said Brian Walsh, a professor of engineering at the University of Boston, who is the main investigator of the instrument.
Lander also carries a drill, which is designed to put up to nine feet in the lunar soil and measure the flow of health from the interior of the moon. Another experiment is a computer designed to recover from errors caused by the radiation of the universe.
The landing landed a welcome reflector of the Society of Society, which sometimes became more involved in Curtrome and political drama than launching missiles and monthly landing.
The original version of the company, Firefly Space Systems, was founded in 2014. The CEO was Thomas Markusic, an air engineer who previously worked for missile companies owned by three billionaires: Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Richard Galactik.
Virgin Galactic filed a lawsuit against Firefly and claimed that Mr. Markusic had stolen her business secrets in Firefly. In 2016, the main European investor retreated and Firefly gave all his jobs to Furlough when they dried up.
The technology entrepreneur, Max Polyakov came to rescue, and Firefly’s space systems were again born as Aerospace Firefly. In 2022, however, the government of the United States, the national security that quoted conflicts, was forced by Dr. Polykova, a native of Ukraine to sell her share of Firefly.
Firefly, however, also acquired some key contracts that included a mission that stood on Sunday for a month.
Over the past few years, Firefly has successfully launched her little alpha rocket, including one mission for the United States’ space forces, which has shown that the ability to prepare and start paying useful burden in a short time. Firefly is also developing a larger rocket that is currently known as a medium -start vehicle, and a number of spacecraft known as Elytra, which could perform different tasks in orbit.
Firefly also won two more CLPS missions.
The second scheduled to launch next year is to land on the other side of the month. The third, scheduled for 2028, is to explore Gruithhuisen the domestic, unusual volcanic area on the nearest side of the month.
“As long as we exempt, we go on bold and bigger,” said Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly, in an interview last week.
The month will continue to be a busy place. Another CLPS mission is just a few days away. On Thursday near the South Pole of the Moon, the landing of the second monthly landing, Athena, Athena, Athena, Athena is planned.
And another spacecraft is also on the way. On the same SpaceX Falcon 9, which launched Blue Ghost To Orbit, was resistance, a lunar land built by Japanese ISPACE.
Although resistance has left the country at the same time as Blue Ghost, long, more fuel effects are subjected to the Moon and are expected to enter the orbit month in early May.