1 year ago, 2 US landers were on moon. How they set stage for Artemis
For a few brief days in 2025, two U.S. lunar landers were en route to the moon's surface at the same time.
And for an even briefer time, both of them were operating simultaneously after landing in March 2025 on different parts of Earth's celestial neighbor. The dual missions – both carried out by separate Texas-based spaceflight companies on behalf of NASA – marked an extraordinary moment in lunar exploration.
Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost and Intuitive Machines' Athena launched weeks apart atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. But – due to the type of path the landers took – they touched down within days of one another.
Intuitive Machines had previously etched its name in the history books in February 2024 when its spacecraft named Odysseus became the first commercially built lunar lander to ever make it to the moon . The lunar mission also marked the United States' return to the moon for the first time in more than five decades since NASA's Apollo era came to an end.
Now, the space agency has its sights set on returning astronauts to the moon under its Artemis program – the next mission of which is due for liftoff as early as April . Though that mission, Artemis 2, is not a lunar landing, humans are now due to reach the moon as early as 2028 under Artemis 4.
And after those crewed lunar landings begin? America's next giant leap: sending the first astronauts to Mars .
A year later, here's a recap of Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines' separate lunar landing missions, and their role in setting the stage for humans to return to the moon.
Firefly lands Blue Ghost on moon
Firefly Aerospace , a spaceflight company in Cedar Park, Texas, became the first in 2025 to get a lander to the moon's surface.
After launching Jan. 15, 2025, the Blue Ghost lunar lander also became the second-ever commercial U.S. spacecraft to make it to the surface of the moon when it touched down six weeks later March 3.
On a mission known as Ghost Riders in the Sky , Blue Ghost's landing site was near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille on the moon's Earth-facing near side. The region is located within Mare Crisium, a 300-mile-wide basin that is believed to have been created by early volcanic eruptions and flooded with basaltic lava more than 3 billion years ago.
It wasn't long after that Blue Ghost began surface operations as part of its $101.5 million mission to deploy 10 science instruments to test the lunar environment for NASA. The technology was put to use for a complete lunar day , equivalent to about 14 Earth days.
Intuitive Machines makes 2nd lunar landing, but Athena tips over
Launched Feb. 26, 2025 , Houston-based Intuitive Machines' Athena lander took a much shorter route to land eight days later on March 6.
The six-legged lunar lander , part of a class of lunar landers known as Nova-C, was designed for a 10-day water-hunting and research mission on the lunar south pole. Athena, whose $62.5 million mission for NASA was known as IM-2, also became the second spacecraft manufactured by Intuitive Machines to make it to the lunar surface.
Its landing site was near a plateau known as Mons Mouton – even further south than Intuitive Machines' Odysseus lander reached in February 2024 . The mesa-like lunar mountain towers over a landscape carved by craters , including the Shackleton Crater – a cold, dark region where water ice and other volatile materials that turn easily into gas are thought to be abundant.
But like its predecessor, the lander tipped over when it made it to the surface – significantly hampering the objectives it was able to complete before powering down.
How 2025 lunar missions set stage for moon landing
Both missions were meant to play a role in paving the way for NASA to return humans to the moon in the years ahead under its Artemis program.
NASA contracted the ventures under its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, or CLPS , which the U.S. space agency implemented to find lower-cost methods to finance privately-managed lunar deliveries without having to develop spacecraft of its own. More uncrewed lunar landers could head to the moon in 2026, including one manufactured by Blue Origin .
In the case of Firefly's Blue Ghost mission, the lander helped "perform science experiments, test technologies, and demonstrate capabilities" that will be integral to astronaut missions to the moon, NASA said.
Intuitive Machines' Athena was due to help hunt for water ice on the south pole, which could be extracted and used for drinking , breathing and as a source of hydrogen and oxygen for rocket fuel for missions to Mars.
Why does NASA want to return astronauts to the moon? What to know about Artemis
NASA's Artemis program is the agency's ambitious campaign to return Americans to the surface of the moon for the first time since the Apollo era ended in 1972 . The Artemis campaign was conceived in 2017 under the first term of President Donald Trump , who has signaled he wants to see a moon landing before the end of his second term.
But instead of simply planting a flag and departing the moon, astronauts on future Artemis landings are due to remain on the lunar surface to establish a permanent base of operations . From there, NASA will conduct the first crewed ventures to Mars.
NASA's Artemis 2 mission could get off the ground in April, sending four astronauts on a 10-day trip around the moon in a major test of both the Orion capsule and Space Launch System rocket designed for the series of missions. The mission will be the second under the agency's multibillion-dollar program and the first with astronauts .
Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@usatodayco.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2 moon landers reached moon 1 year ago to pave way for NASA's Artemis
