Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 team has been selected to receive the 2025 Robert J. Collier Trophy, one of the most prestigious honors in US aerospace, for completing what the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) called the first fully successful commercial lunar landing and operating multiple NASA payloads on the Moon. The NAA announced the award on March 18, 2026, and said the formal presentation will take place in Washington in June.
The Collier Trophy has been awarded annually since 1911 for the greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America, based on improving the performance, efficiency and safety of air or space vehicles, with the value demonstrated by actual use during the preceding year. Past recipients include Orville Wright, the Apollo 11 crew, the Cessna Citation, the Gulfstream G650, and the James Webb Space Telescope team.
Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 landed in Mare Crisium on March 2, 2025, carrying NASA science and technology payloads under the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. NASA said the lander touched down near Mons Latreille within Mare Crisium at 3:34 a.m. EST and delivered a suite of experiments to support lunar science and future exploration.
In announcing the trophy, the NAA said Blue Ghost Mission 1 earned the honor for completing a successful commercial lunar landing and operating several NASA payloads, calling the mission a major step forward in the economics and accessibility of cislunar space. NAA Board Chair Jim Albaugh said the mission showed the commercial sector is ready to play a leading role in the return to the Moon.
Firefly said Blue Ghost Mission 1 carried payloads designed to support lunar research and technology demonstrations, including investigations involving regolith sample collection, radiation-tolerant computing, navigation capabilities and lunar dust mitigation. After landing, the company said it met 100% of its mission objectives, completed more than 14 days of surface operations and continued operating for several hours into the lunar night before communications ended.
Blue Ghost was the first private mission to claim a fully successful soft landing and surface operation, in contrast with earlier commercial missions that reached the Moon but suffered hard landings or shorter operational lives.
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