US firm Firefly makes its first moon landing with uncrewed Blue Ghost spacecraft

(Reuters) - Firefly Aerospace became the second U.S. company to land on the moon on Sunday with its debut Blue Ghost lander, kicking off a two-week research mission as one of a handful of private firms to reach the frontlines of a global moon race.

The size of a compact car, the four-legged Blue Ghost carried 10 scientific payloads as it touched down at 3:35am ET near an ancient volcanic vent on Mare Crisium, a large basin in the northeast corner of the moon's Earth-facing side.

Flight controllers at Firefly's Austin, Texas headquarters watched as Blue Ghost descended toward the moon's surface at a gentle two miles per hour, confirming on a live stream that the spacecraft had entered lunar gravity.

"We're on the moon," a company official in mission control declared.

Firefly became the second private firm to score a soft moon landing. Houston-based Intuitive Machines' LUNR.O Odysseus lander made a lopsided soft touchdown last year. Five nations have made successful soft landings in the past - the then-Soviet Union, the U.S., China, India and, last year, Japan.

Flight controllers at Firefly's Austin, Texas, headquarters had sent final commands to Blue Ghost as it lowered its lunar orbit, flying about 238,000 miles (383,000 km) from Earth a month and a half after launching atop a SpaceX rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.