Firefly's "Blue Moon" and ispace's "Resilience" are the latest in an ongoing push to gain private-sector experience exploring the moon.

The launch comes as NASA aims to put a human on the moon again before the end of the decade - something last achieved in 1972.

SpaceX is targeting Tuesday, January 14 for Falcon 9’s launch of the Transporter-12 mission to low-Earth orbit from California.

Blue Ghost’s Moon mission, launched by SpaceX, is set to revolutionize lunar exploration and offer Earth valuable lessons from space. At 1:11 a.m. EST on SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket carrying Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander.

This was the 20th flight and recovery for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, and SpaceX's 341st recovery of an orbital-class rocket.

According to SpaceX's official statement, the Blue Ghost lander will start its nearly 45-day journey to the Moon once it is deployed into a lunar transfer orbit.

Dozens of small satellites set to conduct various missions shared a Falcon 9 rocket ride to space Tuesday morning as clear skies rewarded spectators for

The SpaceX rocket sent Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost lunar lander into space. It is expected to arrive on the Moon in about 45 days.

SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket SpaceX Falcon 9 launch of the Transporter-12 mission to low-Earth orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. #SpaceX #launch #Reuters Keep up with the latest news from around the world: ------------------------------------------------------ LiveTube | Latest Breaking News and Live Video Pioneering LIve News.