On Monday (Jan. 27), Texas-based Firefly released two photos of the moon that Blue Ghost captured from Earth orbit. One shows the natural satellite all alone, a small grayish dot in an empty black sea; the other is a selfie, showing the moon glowing above some of Blue Ghost's golden hardware.

Firefly's Blue Ghost Mission 1 has taken a significant leap toward the Moon, with its successful second engine burn positioning the spacecraft for lunar orbit. NASA’s science and technology instruments aboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 are making steady progress toward the Moon.

The spacecraft built and operated by Texas-based Firefly Aerospace launched in the early Monday hours from Florida aboard a SpaceX rocket.

Blue Ghost's main mission will be research. It will hang out in Earth's orbit for 25 days taking measurements and waiting for the right time to fling itself to the moon. After four days in transit, Blue Ghost will spend 16 days in lunar orbit collecting more data before descending to Mare Crisium, one of the largest basins on the moon.

The payloads will be delivered to the moon via a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket being launched at 1:11 a.m. Eastern time (12:11 a.m. Central time) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. From there, the lander will spend 45 days in space before landing on the Moon's surface to conduct its research.

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lunar lander launched at 1:11 a.m. Wednesday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the SpaceX rocket before separating an hour later. The lunar lander — part of a mission known as Blue Ghost Mission 1 or Ghost Riders in the Sky — will spend 45 days in orbit and 14 days on the surface of the moon.

Firefly's Blue Ghost lunar lander has launched from Kennedy Space Center Pad 39A, and is on a 45-day journey to the moon for NASA.

In a groundbreaking effort to enhance lunar exploration, NASA has launched the Blue Ghost Mission 1, featuring a suite of scientific investigations and technology demonstrations aboard a Firefly Aerospace spacecraft.