[ti:Private Lander Carrying NASA Experiments Lands on the Moon]
[al:Science & Technology]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2025-03-06]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]A private spacecraft carrying several science experiments has successfully landed on the moon.
[00:09.42]The lander, called Blue Ghost, was built by the American company Firefly Aerospace. 
[00:18.15]The spacecraft touched down March 2 on the part of the moon's near side called Mare Crisium. 
[00:28.87]The near side of the moon is the side facing Earth.
[00:33.83]Officials at Firefly's Mission Control center near Austin, Texas, confirmed the successful landing. 
[00:44.63]The chief engineer for the Blue Ghost mission, Will Coogan, announced to excited workers: "We're on the moon."
[00:55.67]The officials said the spacecraft landed in the right position and was operating normally. 
[01:04.96]The successful touchdown makes Firefly the first private company to land a spacecraft on the moon without crashing or having a major problem.
[01:18.93]Only five countries can claim successful moon landings: Russia, the United States, China, India and Japan.
[01:31.59]Blue Ghost is named after a rare kind of firefly found in the U.S. 
[01:39.27]The four-legged lander is two meters tall and 3.5 meters wide. 
[01:46.58]It launched in mid-January from Florida, carrying 10 experiments for the American space agency NASA.
[01:56.97]In a statement, NASA said the 10 experiments are designed to operate on the surface of the moon for one lunar day, which is about 14 Earth days. 
[02:11.83]The Associated Press reported that NASA paid $101 million for the spacecraft and $44 million for the equipment it carried.
[02:26.82]It was the third mission under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. 
[02:36.70]The program aims to turn over the country's major space missions to private companies to reduce costs. 
[02:45.97]Several other companies are part of the program.
[02:50.75]Another lander, called Athena, is set to attempt a moon landing on March 6.
[02:58.55]That four-meter-tall spacecraft was built and operated by Houston-based Intuitive Machines.
[03:08.54]It will land on another part of the moon, about 160 kilometers from the lunar south pole.
[03:17.60]A third lander from private Japanese company ispace will attempt a moon landing in about three months. 
[03:28.33]The lander, called Resilience, shared its rocket ride with Blue Ghost. 
[03:34.64]But it took a longer path to the moon.
[03:39.15]The company is also attempting to land on the moon for the second time.
[03:45.44]Its first lander crashed in 2023.
[03:49.88]NASA has said it aims to have two private landers launch to the moon each year, realizing some missions will fail. 
[04:01.23]The space agency's top science officer is Nicky Fox.
[04:07.23]She told the AP the latest launches "open up a whole new way for us to get more science to space and to the moon."
[04:18.14]In the past, NASA's successful moon landings involving astronauts cost billions of dollars. 
[04:27.31]But Firefly chief Jason Kim said the private companies now building and launching spacecraft have a limited budget and the spacecraft operate robotically.
[04:42.70]Kim said everything went just as planned with Blue Ghost's landing.
[04:48.70]"We got some moon dust on our boots," he added.
[04:54.44]I'm Bryan Lynn.