Private US spacecraft successfully lands on the moon

(AFP) A private U.S. company successfully landed its spacecraft on the moon Sunday after a long journey through space, becoming the second private mission to achieve this milestone and the first to land vertically.

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost Mission 1 landed shortly after 3:34 a.m. EST near Mons Latreille, a volcanic formation of Mare Crisium on the northeast face of the moon.

"Perfect landing, we made it to the Moon," exclaimed an engineer from mission control in Austin, Texas, as the entire team erupted with joy.

The company's chief executive, Jason Kim, confirmed that the aircraft was "stable and upright," compared with the craft on the first private mission in February, which landed on its side.

"We're on the Moon!" celebrated Nicky Fox, associate administrator of the U.S. space agency NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

Dubbed “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” named after an old popular country song, the mission is part of a collaboration between NASA and its industry partners to reduce costs and support Artemis, the program designed to return astronauts to the moon.

This golden descent module, the size of a small car, was launched in January aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from billionaire Elon Musk's company SpaceX. During its 45-day journey, it captured stunning images of Earth and its satellite.

Blue Ghost carries 10 scientific instruments, including one to analyze the lunar soil, another to test radiation-tolerant computing and a GPS-based navigation system.

Designed to operate for a full lunar day (14 Earth days), Blue Ghost is expected to capture high-definition images of a total eclipse on March 14, when the Earth blocks the sun from the moon's horizon.

On March 16, it will record a lunar sunset, providing details of how dust levitates on the surface under solar influence, creating the mysterious glow of the lunar horizon first documented by Apollo mission astronaut Eugene Cernan.