A US company achieved a historic milestone on Sunday by successfully landing its spacecraft on the Moon, becoming only the second private mission to do so — and the first to land upright.

Firefly Aerospace`s Blue Ghost Mission 1 touched down just after 3:34 AM US Eastern Time (0834 GMT) near Mons Latreille, a volcanic feature in Mare Crisium on the Moon`s northeastern side.

"Y`all stuck the landing, we`re on the Moon!" an engineer at mission control in Austin, Texas, exclaimed, prompting cheers from the team.

The first image from the lander is expected soon. CEO Jason Kim later confirmed that the spacecraft was “stable and upright,” unlike the first private lunar landing in February 2024, which occurred sideways.

“We`re on the Moon!” rejoiced Nicky Fox, NASA`s Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate.

Nicknamed "Ghost Riders in the Sky," the mission is part of a NASA-industry collaboration designed to reduce costs and support Artemis, NASA’s program to return astronauts to the Moon.

The golden lander, about the size of a hippopotamus, launched on January 15 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. During its journey, it captured stunning images of Earth and the Moon. It shared the ride with a Japanese lander that plans to attempt a lunar landing in May.

Blue Ghost carries 10 scientific instruments, including a lunar soil analyzer, a radiation-resistant computer, and an experiment exploring the possibility of using global satellite navigation systems for lunar navigation.

Designed to operate for a full lunar day (14 Earth days), Blue Ghost is set to capture high-definition imagery of a total lunar eclipse on March 14, when Earth will block the Sun from the Moon’s horizon. On March 16, it will document a lunar sunset, providing insights into how dust levitates above the surface due to solar influence, creating the mysterious lunar horizon glow first observed by Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan.