Firefly Aerospace succeeded in its first attempt to land on the moon with its uncrewed Blue Ghost spacecraft on Sunday, kicking off a two-week research mission as a handful of private firms compete to reach the frontlines of a global moon race.

The landing precedes by just four days the planned arrival of a second uncrewed American spacecraft built and operated by Intuitive Machines. The space exploration company, also based in Texas, etched its name in the history books a year ago when its spacecraft,

"Our Blue Ghost lunar lander now has a permanent home on the lunar surface with 10 NASA payloads and a plaque with every Firefly employee's name," Jason Kim, Firefly CEO, said in