As it maneuvers into position for a landing attempt, Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander captured some gorgeous video of the Moon rolling away below it.
"The video below, sped up by 10X, was taken about 100 km [0.62 miles] above the lunar surface, showing the far side of the Moon and a top-down view of Blue Ghost's RCS thrusters (center) and radiator panels on each side," the Texas-based private aerospace company wrote on its live blog.
"The radiator panels are moving nominally to protect Blue Ghost's subsystems from extreme temperatures."
The lander module carries 10 science and technology instruments for NASA that will take measurements from Mare Crisium, or Sea of Crises, a large, basalt-filled impact basin on the lunar near side.
It's the first of three missions the company has contracted to fly for NASA.
The second, scheduled for 2026, will place a lander on the far side of the Moon.
The third, in 2028, will place a rover to explore the mysterious Gruithuisen Domes on the near side.
All three missions will provide invaluable data to help NASA assess longer-term lunar habitability prospects, such as a permanent Moon base.
Blue Ghost's descent into Mare Crisium will commence on March 2, and we'll all be waiting with bated breath.
Landing on the Moon is still extremely difficult. There's no atmosphere to speak of to provide natural drag to help descending spacecraft brake using a parachute.
Descent can only be controlled using thrusters. The terrain is also hard and rough, which makes error margins for descent velocity extremely narrow.
If all goes according to plan, the lander will operate its science payload for a full lunar day – that's 14 Earth days – capturing a solar eclipse as Earth passes in front of the Sun, and a lunar sunset.
Its operation will continue for several hours into the lunar night before shutting down forever.
This is normal for lunar missions; the lunar night reaches temperatures lower than -246 degrees Celsius (-410 Fahrenheit), and it's challenging to keep spacecraft operational through that transition.
That's if the spacecraft sticks the landing. Watch live above and stay tuned to the mission blog to find out how it all goes.