NASA holds Blue Ghost Lunar Lander briefing before launch

CEDAR PARK, Texas - The Blue Ghost Lunar Lander was built in Cedar Park by Firefly Aerospace. It’s now in Cape Canaveral, Florida, being prepared for a mid-January blast off to the moon. 

The goal is to be the first American-made spacecraft to successfully land on the moon in 50 years. In a media briefing Tuesday, Firefly CEO Jason Kim said a lot of work has been done for what he hopes will be a soft landing.

"We believe in a future of a very robust lunar economy. It is the gateway to other planets like Mars. And so that's just enabling the frequency of very affordable and high-science-value missions is what private industry is doing with this first Blue Ghost 1 mission," said Kim.

NASA awarded Firefly a $101 million contract to help the space agency re-launch manned missions to the moon. People in Cedar Park said they were excited about the town being part of the team.

"I think that's really cool that we're right next door to something that is going to be really huge," said Lisa Maroney.

Sarah Sayed called the mission incredible.

"I feel proud of Cedar Park and living here and the innovation that's happening over here," said Sayed.

At Firefly's Cedar Park headquarters on Hwy 183, from a mission control room, engineers and technicians will manage the 60-day mission. The job includes monitoring 10 payloads that were placed on the lander while it was assembled at the facility. 

Company officials said it’s the largest number of experiments to be delivered to the moon by the space agency.

"We've got a nice variety of payloads on board that will be understanding the lunar regolith, the geophysical characteristics. We're going to be measuring heat flow from the interior of the moon in order to better understand the interior structure. Looking at mitigating dust buildup on different materials, as well as a payload that will be looking at the Earth's magnetic field and how it interacts with solar wind," said Ryan Watkins, a NASA program scientist with the Exploration Science Strategy and Integration Office

The mission, called "Ghost riders in the sky," was described as providing a road map back to the moon.

"2025 is definitely going to be an exciting year for lunar science," said Joel Kearns, NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration, Science Mission Directorate.

A second Blue Ghost Lander is already being built. But before it flies, there will be two more attempts at a lunar landing next year. Those flights will be done by "Intuitive Machines," a company based in Houston. 

Back in February, Intuitive’s first lander called "Odysseus" fell on its side. The Firefly team believes the landing gear on the Blue Ghost will prevent that kind of problem from happening again.