Firefly sets January launch date for first lunar lander mission

WASHINGTON — Firefly Aerospace says it is planning a launch of its first lunar lander mission in January, meaning that none of the three commercial lander missions once slated to launch in the fourth quarter of this year will do so.

Firefly announced Nov. 25 that it is planning to launch its Blue Ghost 1 lander mission during a six-day window in mid-January. The spacecraft will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Florida.

The announcement of the launch date came after the spacecraft completed testing in October at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “Blue Ghost aced environmental testing and proved the lander is performing 100% as expected,” Jason Kim, chief executive of Firefly, said in the statement announcing the launch date. “While we know there will be more challenges ahead, I’m confident this team has what it takes to softly touch down on the lunar surface and nail this mission.”

The company had previously been planning a launch of the spacecraft in the fourth quarter of 2024, but did not offer a more specific date. Speaking at a meeting of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) Oct. 29, Joseph Marlin, chief engineer of Firefly’s Elytra Dark spacecraft, again offered a launch date of the fourth quarter but said he could not be more specific, suggesting it was based on launch vehicle availability. “SpaceX is still sorting out its schedule,” he said then.

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