Author: Supriya Jena

On Sunday, Firefly Aerospace, an American private space company, successfully landed its Blue Ghost spacecraft on the Moon! This means Firefly is the first commercial company ever to land on the Moon. They celebrated this big achievement on social media, saying, “We did it! This small landing on the Moon is a huge step for commercial space exploration. Congrats to everyone at Firefly, our partners, and NASA for making this happen!”

The mission, also known as “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” launched on January 15 using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. It is part of a collaboration with NASA to reduce costs and help return astronauts to the Moon through the Artemis program.

Before landing, Firefly shared an update on social media, saying, “In just 2 hours, Blue Ghost will start its journey to the Moon’s Mare Crisium. There will be a short communication blackout while this happens. After that, we will check to make sure everything is okay!”

The Blue Ghost lander, which is about the size of a hippopotamus, is carrying 10 special tools. These include a lunar soil analyzer and a computer that can work in space radiation. It will also help test if a global satellite navigation system can work on the Moon.

One exciting task for the Blue Ghost is to record a lunar sunset, which will help scientists understand why dust lifts off the Moon’s surface, creating a glowing horizon. This mysterious glow was first seen by Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan.

This mission comes at a crucial time for NASA. There is discussion about possibly changing or even stopping the Artemis lunar program to focus more on exploring Mars, which is important to President Trump and SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

Pope Francis is resting and doing okay as he recovers from double pneumonia. He missed his regular Sunday blessing again because he’s still not strong enough to appear in public. This is the third weekend in a row he has skipped delivering the Angelus prayer. The Vatican planned to share his prepared message instead.

Doctors said the Pope had a quiet night in the hospital and showed signs of improvement, even though he had a hard time breathing before and needed help with oxygen. He is 88 years old and has had lung issues for a long time, having had part of his lung removed when he was younger. He went to the hospital on February 14 due to worsening bronchitis that turned into pneumonia in both lungs.

The good news is that he can now breathe without the ventilator for long periods and his body is responding better, which is a sign that his health is improving. Doctors still advised caution, so he isn’t completely out of danger yet. He is eating, drinking, and doing breathing exercises, and even spent some time in his private chapel.

Many people are praying for Pope Francis as the Vatican celebrates a special Holy Year, bringing many pilgrims to Rome. They walk through the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica and pray in Assisi, the town named after his saintly namesake, St. Francis. People visiting from different places, like Rev. Jacinto Bento from the Azores Islands, expressed their sadness over the Pope’s health.

In a twist of fate, Pope Francis was supposed to meet hospital staff for a special audience, but he had to stay in the hospital. Monsignor Claudio Giuliodori, of the Catholic University connected to the hospital, said they understood and continued to pray for him.

At the Gemelli hospital, the atmosphere is better, with shared feelings of hope and support for the Pope.