AFP, Washington

More than fifty years passed between the last Apollo mission and the United States’ return to the lunar surface, when the first-ever private lander touched down last February.

Now, starting today, two more missions are set to follow within a single week, marking a bold push by Nasa and its industry partners to make Moon landings a routine part of space exploration.

First up is Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1, nicknamed “Ghost Riders in the Sky.”

After launching in January on a 45-day journey, it is targeting touchdown near Mons Latreille, a volcanic feature in Mare Crisium on the Moon’s northeastern near side, at 3:34am US Eastern time (0834 GMT). Along the way, it has captured stunning footage of the Moon, coming as close as 60 miles (100 kilometers) above the surface.

The golden lander, about the size of a hippopotamus, carries ten instruments, including one to analyse lunar soil, another to test radiation-tolerant computing, and a GPS-based navigation system.

Designed to operate for a full lunar day (14 Earth days), Blue Ghost is expected to capture high-definition imagery of a total eclipse on March 14, when Earth blocks the Sun from the Moon’s horizon.