An illustration of a private U.S. lander on the surface of the moon built by Texas-based company Firefly Aerospace. The company’s Blue Ghost lander is carrying a suite of scientific instruments to the moon, including an experiment to detect and use GPS satellite signals on the lunar surface.

NASA's Blue Ghost lunar lander successfully launched on Wednesday and is on its way to the moon. Blue Ghost, from Firefly Aerospace, is accompanied by the Tenacious lunar rover from the Japanese company ispace.

The spacecraft built and operated by Texas-based Firefly Aerospace launched in the early Monday hours from Florida aboard a SpaceX rocket.