A private company has successfully landed on the Moon for the first time

What just happened? Multiple governments and companies have struggled to land spacecraft safely on the Moon in recent years. As NASA's goal of sending humans to the lunar surface for the first time in over half a century faces repeated delays, a Texas-based company has become the first private entity to complete a fully successful landing. Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1 lander successfully touched down on the lunar surface at 3:34 a.m. ET (02:34 CST) on Sunday, becoming the first non-governmental object to land on the Moon without issue. The feat marks an early step in NASA's efforts to establish a lunar economy. The two-meter lander lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 15, embarking on a leisurely 45-day mission to the Moon. In the hours following touchdown, the Blue Ghost transmitted impressive images of its thrusters, antenna, and shadow on the lunar surface, visually confirming a fully successful ... Read full article.