US lunar module Firefly Aerospace prepared for Sunday’s descent to the Moon

The American lunar lander from Firefly Aerospace has completed its final maneuver in lunar orbit before landing on March 2. It will be an exciting and historic moment for American space exploration. The United States has not landed on the lunar surface for more than 50 years, not counting the partially successful descent of the Nova-C Odyssey module from Intuitive Machines last year.

The Moon through the window. Image source: Firefly Aerospace

«”Blue Ghost’s third and final lunar orbit maneuver is complete! Early this morning, our Ghost Riders fired their thrusters for 16 seconds to enter a near-circular low lunar orbit,” Texas-based Firefly said in a post on social media platform X.

The Blue Ghost lander entered lunar orbit on February 13 after launching on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on January 15. Since then, it has been lowering its orbit in preparation for landing on the moon, and now everything is in place for the upcoming attempt.

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The mission, called Ghost Riders in the Sky, is one of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Servicing (CLPS) missions. CLPS was created as part of the Artemis program to contract with private companies to deliver the agency’s scientific payloads to the Moon. The lander carries ten NASA research and technology vehicles to study the lunar environment.

Even if all goes well, this will not be the end of the story. Somewhere on the approach to the Moon, the descent module of the Japanese company iSpace is moving. It flies along a different trajectory and will arrive at the Moon in about three months.