Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lunar lander makes it to the moon. What's next?

A second American company has landed a spacecraft on the moon in an extraordinary feat once solely the realm of government space agencies like NASA.

The uncrewed lander, named Blue Ghost, made its touch down early Sunday on lunar surface after more than six weeks voyaging millions of miles through the cosmos. Firefly Aerospace , the Texas-based company that built and is operating the spacecraft, was hired by NASA to carry a fleet of scientific instruments to the moon's Earth-facing side to study its environment ahead of plans for astronauts to return in the years ahead.

The landing precedes by just four days the planned arrival of a second uncrewed American spacecraft built and operated by Intuitive Machines. The space exploration company, also based in Texas,  etched its name in the history books a year ago  when its spacecraft, Odysseus, became the first commercially-built lunar lander in the U.S. to ever make it to the moon.

Intuitive Machines' second lander, Athena, is targeting a Thursday, March 6 touchdown on the lunar south pole following a Feb. 26 launch from Florida .

Were astronauts to step foot on the moon as early as 2027 under NASA's Artemis campaign , they'd be the first Americans to do so in five decades since the space agency's Apollo era came to an end in the 1970s.

But as nostalgic as humanity's return to the moon would be, NASA's lunar interests are far from being merely sentimental. Once astronauts can return to the moon – and uncrewed landers like Blue Ghost and Athena are considered vital in laying that groundwork – they'd then fuel up and prepare to continue onward to Mars .

“This incredible achievement demonstrates how NASA and American companies are leading the way in space exploration for the benefit of all,” NASA acting Administrator Janet Petro said in a statement . “The technological and science demonstrations onboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 will improve our ability to not only discover more science, but to ensure the safety of our spacecraft instruments for future human exploration – both in the short term and long term.”

Firefly Aerospace lands Blue Ghost spacecraft on moon

After arriving more than two weeks ago to lunar orbit , the Blue Ghost lander, standing more than 6 feet tall, took about an hour to descend in the early Sunday hours. The landing , which NASA and Firefly both livestreamed , concluded by 3:34 a.m. EST with the spacecraft landing in an "upright, stable configuration," Firefly Aerospace said on its mission blog .

Powered by three solar panels, the spacecraft was designed to stick the landing with shock-absorbing feet, a low center of mass and a wide footprint, according to Firefly Aerospace .

The landing site is near a volcanic feature called Mons Latreille. The region is located within Mare Crisium, a 300-mile-wide basin in the northeast quadrant of the moon's near side, that is believed to have been created by early  volcanic eruptions  and flooded with basaltic lava more than 3 billion years ago.

“Firefly is literally and figuratively over the moon,” said Jason Kim, the CEO of Firefly Aerospace in a statement . "Our Blue Ghost lunar lander now has a permanent home on the lunar surface with 10 NASA payloads and a plaque with every Firefly employee’s name."

'Literally, figuratively over the moon': Firefly's Blue Ghost lands on lunar surface

Lunar landing comes after 45-day trip through space

The landing concludes a more-than 2.8 million-mile journey that began Jan. 15 when Blue Ghost hitched a ride aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket  for a launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on the historic launch pad 39A  – the site of the space agency's Apollo moon mission launches.

Firefly Aerospace has since been regularly providing online updates on the mission, which it's dubbed Ghost Riders in the Sky after the popular country song . Among those updates are many stunning images and videos Firefly has shared that the lander captured throughout its 45-day expedition.

On Jan. 27, Blue Ghost captured the first images of the moon in the distance days after it  fired its engines in a critical burn  to raise its apogee – the point when it is furthest from Earth in its orbit of the planet – as it prepared to enter the moon's orbit.

The lander also observed and documented the Earth eclipsing the moon – from its vantage, at least – and on Feb. 3 beamed back an incredible "selfie" with Earth in the background.

Blue Ghost then captured some striking images of the moon shortly after it entered lunar orbit Feb. 13.

Last week, Blue Ghost got a look of the moon's far side , an area not visible to Earth, that shows our planet rising and setting behind our celestial neighbor. Firefly Aerospace shared the imagery following Blue Ghost's maneuvers to get the spacecraft closer and closer to the lunar surface ahead of the landing.

What's next for Blue Ghost lunar lander?

Now that Firefly Aerospace's spacecraft has made it to the surface, it can begin its mission to deliver and help test a fleet of NASA's scientific instruments to study the moon's environment before humans return.

The  10 instruments Blue Ghost transported to the moon constitute what NASA said is the largest delivery to date under its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, or  CLPS . The CLPS program allows the U.S. space agency to find lower-cost methods to finance lunar deliveries without having to develop spacecraft of its own, as it historically has done.

The technology will next be put to use for a complete lunar day, equivalent to about 14 Earth days.

The instruments Blue Ghost carries, many of which  were tested in transit to the moon , are for things like lunar subsurface drilling, sample collection, X-ray imaging and dust mitigation. The data NASA hopes to collect should also provide insights into how  space weather and other cosmic forces  affect Earth.

Additionally, Blue Ghost plans to capture high-definition imagery of a total lunar eclipse as the Earth blocks the sun above the moon's horizon just before a lunar sunset ushers in  frigid lunar night  a couple days later. The total lunar eclipse will be visible to millions from Earth on March 13-14.

“The science and technology we send to the moon now helps prepare the way for future NASA exploration and long-term human presence to inspire the world for generations to come,” Nicky Fox, associate administrator for science at NASA's headquarters in Washington, D.C. said in a statement. “We’re sending these payloads by working with American companies – which supports a growing lunar economy.”

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Blue Ghost lunar lander makes it to moon's surface: What's next