ScientistPankaj: Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander to attempt moon landing on Sunday

Private Blue Ghost lander aims for weekend moon landing! | NASA Lunar Trailblazer suffers glitch en route to moon | What time is SpaceX's Starship Flight 8 launch on March 3?

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February 28, 2025

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The Launchpad

(Firefly Aerospace)

Private Blue Ghost lander aims for weekend moon landing!

Hey, Space Fans! As we close out the week (and the whole month) today, we're all on the edge of our seats. Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander is headed for the moon.

If all goes well, Blue Ghost will land in Mare Crisium ("Sea of Crises") on the moon's Earth-facing side early Sunday, March 2. You'll be able to watch it live on Space.com then starting around 2:30 a.m. ET. Can't wait? Check out Blue Ghost's awesome views of the moon's far side here!

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(NASA)

NASA Lunar Trailblazer suffers glitch en route to moon

Speaking of moon probes, NASA's new Lunar Trailblazer just hitched a ride toward the moon with Intuitive Machines' Athena lunar lander, but the small orbiter is in trouble already. Flight controllers lost contact with it after launch, but here's where everything stands now.

(Sergio Flores/Getty Images)

What time is SpaceX's Starship Flight 8 launch on March 3?

Private spaceflight isn't stopping at just a moon landing in the next week. SpaceX says its ready to launch the world's largest rocket again on Monday, March 3. The Starship Flight 8 test flight is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET on Monday from SpaceX's Starbase in South Texas. Here's when and where to tune in.

Space Deal of the Day

(National Geographic)

Save 21% on this National Geographic Power Rocket

If this week's awesome launches has your space cadet (or you yourself, no judgement) wanting to launch something, too, this Nat Geo Power Rocket may be just the ticket. And right now, you can save big will building your own mini space program. Here's how.

Skywatching

(Anadolu/Getty Images)

Why the northern lights seem more frequent than ever

Have you noticed that more auroras have been visible in recent years, including from lower latitudes? Us, too. That's why we started looking into it. Here's what experts told us on why the northern lights have been amped up lately.

Spaceflight

(Firefly Aerospace)

3 private lunar landers are headed to the moon right now

If it wasn't clear yet in this newsletter, there's something happening at the moon. For the first time in history, three different private companies are hoping to land on the moon in the coming days and weeks. The U.S. companies Firefly Aerospace and Intuitive Machines, along with Japan's ispace company, all hope to land their own probes (some with rovers and more) soon.

Science & Astronomy

(Robert Lea (created with Canva))

'Dark matter is more valuable than gold.'

On the astronomy front, we've been following the hunt for dark matter for decades, but new research has revealed a surprising fact: Dark matter, widely known as the universe's most mysterious stuff, is rarer on Earth than gold. And that's despite the fact that dark matter outweighs "ordinary matter" by a staggering ratio of five to one. So what gives? Here's what we found.

SpaceX

(NASA)

NASA launching its SPHEREx and PUNCH probes on Sunday

Sunday night football may be over, but that doesn't mean NASA's taking a break. The space agency will launch two critical new space missions, the universe-mapping SPHEREx telescope and twin PUUNCH probes to study the sun. Liftoff is set for Sunday night, but their science could last a lifetime.

Entertainment

(The Pokémon Company)

Here are 10 Pokémon from space to celebrate the iconic series

We've talked a lot about some amazing real-life space probes and science today, but this week also brought the world the 10th annual Pokémon day and it got us thinking: Are there any Pokémon from space? Believe me, we were as surprised as you when we made this list.

On This Day in Space

(U.S. Air Force)

Discoverer 1 spy satellite goes missing after launch

Let's close out the week with something historic that happened today in space.

On Feb. 28, 1959, the U.S. Air Force launched a new spy satellite prototype called Discoverer 1. But the mission didn't go entirely according to plan. After Discoverer 1 passed out of radar range somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere, it went missing. See how it happened in our "On This Day in Space" video series!

Have a great weekend, Space Fans!

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