Right now, the remains of three private spacecraft rest on the moon, with one more lost in Earth orbit. And that is incredible.

First came Israel’s Beresheet, which crashed on the lunar surface in 2019. Next was Astrobotic’s Peregrine, which suffered an anomaly and was ordered to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere in early 2024. Then, Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus became the first functioning private vehicle to land on the moon — though it landed harder than expected and didn’t live as long as planned. The company tried again with Athena earlier this month, which touched down on its side but still completed key mission objectives before running out of power. Finally, Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost crossed the finish line with a fully successful landing — alive, transmitting and delivering incredible images and other results.

And this is just the beginning. Soon, the U.S.-Japanese iSpace team will attempt its own touchdown, marking yet another milestone in what is quickly evolving into a true private-sector space race.