NASA’s plans to return to the moon continue to highlight goals of landing the first woman and first person of color on the lunar surface even amid the agency’s recent shutdown of diversity, equity and inclusion programs known as DEI under executive orders from President Trump.

NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Reid Wiseman, Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen and NASA astronaut Christina Hammock Koch pose for pictures after a news conference about the NASA's Artemis II mission outside the U.S. Capitol May 18, 2023 at Washington, DC. Drew Angerer/Getty Images

NASA, an independent agency of the U.S. government, will no longer be upholding DEI efforts. In a press release, NASA shared its plans to comply with executive order “Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions,

Firefly's Blue Ghost Mission 1 has taken a significant leap toward the Moon, with its successful second engine burn positioning the spacecraft for lunar orbit. NASA’s science and technology instruments aboard Firefly’s Blue Ghost Mission 1 are making steady progress toward the Moon.

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

Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost moon lander has snapped its first photos of its distant target. On Monday (Jan. 27), Texas-based Firefly released two photos of the moon that Blue Ghost captured from Earth orbit.