In a significant development for commercial lunar exploration, two spacecraft have reached key milestones in their separate missions to the Moon. Firefly Aerospace announced on February 13th that its Blue Ghost 1 lander successfully entered lunar orbit. The spacecraft performed a 4-minute, 15-second burn of its reaction control system thrusters to achieve orbit, estimated to be between 150 and 5,673 kilometers above the lunar surface by amateur trackers. The company plans further maneuvers to achieve a circular orbit before its scheduled landing attempt on March 2nd at 3:45 a.m. Eastern.

Blue Ghost 1 is carrying 10 NASA payloads as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. These payloads are designed to operate at the landing site near Mare Crisium. The lander is expected to operate at the site through the end of the lunar day and for several hours after sunset.

Meanwhile, ispace's Resilience lander, launched alongside Blue Ghost 1 on January 15th, executed a lunar flyby on February 14th, passing approximately 8,400 kilometers from the lunar surface. Resilience is employing a low-energy trajectory, taking it as far as 1.1 million kilometers from Earth before returning for a lunar orbit insertion burn in early May. A landing attempt in the Mare Frigoris region is planned, though a specific date has not been released.

“I feel very confident about the Resilience lander, which has steadily achieved milestones and is on track for success, and our employees who have made meticulous preparations for this impressive flyby of the moon,” said Takeshi Hakamada, founder and chief executive of ispace, in a statement.

Both missions have outlined several milestones. For Firefly, reaching lunar orbit was the 10th of 17 milestones. For ispace, the lunar flyby marked the fifth of 10 milestones. Blue Ghost 1 may even share the lunar surface with another commercial lander. Intuitive Machines is targeting a February 26th launch for its IM-2 mission, aiming for a March 6th landing near the moon's south pole.

Steve Altemus, chief executive of Intuitive Machines, told CNBC on February 7th that a launch within the four-day window would allow for a landing in the Mons Mouton region.