Blue Ghost Gets Ready to Descend Toward Moon

Flight controllers at Firefly Aerospace’s Mission Operations Center in north Austin, Texas, have sent a command to Blue Ghost to initiate descent orbit insertion, which is set to begin at 2:30 a.m. EST, Sunday. The command was sent around nine hours ahead of time since the burn is performed on the far side of the Moon during a planned comms blackout.

Signal will be regained about 20 minutes after the burn, at which point the team can ensure the lander is on the right course. If not, Blue Ghost has another opportunity to orbit the Moon again and attempt another descent orbit insertion to send the lander on its way to its final destination: the Moon’s Mare Crisium.