GEOFF BENNETT: NASA's partnership with the private sector took another key step forward this weekend with a successful moon landing.

MAN: We're on the moon.

GEOFF BENNETT: The Blue Ghost lunar lander measuring only about six-by-11-feet stuck the landing safely early Sunday, making it the first commercial spacecraft to do so after others tried, but crashed or tipped over once they got to the moon.

Blue Ghost is built by the private company Firefly Aerospace.

It's carrying a number of experiments for NASA and is part of a larger effort to have private companies make deliveries for larger missions.

Miles O'Brien joins us now.

Miles, it's always great to see you.

So what is the significance of this Blue Ghost landing?

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, Geoff, it's a big accomplishment for a small private enterprise to land on the moon.

This is not easy stuff.

As they say, rocket science is hard.

This is part of the overall Artemis program and is truly a highlight in a program which is facing a lot of trouble.

Artemis, of course, is the return to the moon campaign over several years.

These missions, and this is one of about 11 or so in the coming years, are designed to scout out the surface, determine the radiation environment, try to figure out what to do about that difficult lunar dust, which can be very sticky and sharp, and also learn how to navigate and land successfully.

They were able, interestingly, to use the Earth-based GPS system to get a fix.

So that actually portends well for navigating in the future, so a glimmer of hope in an otherwise troubled program.

GEOFF BENNETT: A glimmer of hope indeed.

How much of a boost is this for Artemis?

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, it helps.

And it puts Artemis in people's minds.

But at the center of Artemis is a giant what some might call white elephant of a rocket.

It's now coming in at about $90 billion.

I'm talking about the Space Launch System.

And it's had a very long and slow and continually delayed effort to get into space.

At this point, NASA is projecting a moon landing in 2027.

But that's probably pretty optimistic.

So this is a program that is looking like it is a ripe target for the DOGE world.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, it raises the question, what is Elon Musk's stance on Artemis, especially since he has his own private spaceflight company, SpaceX?

MILES O'BRIEN: He's not a big fan.

But, interestingly, he does have a key part to play in Artemis.

His Starship is -- would be modified and used to actually do the last bit and land on the lunar surface.

But the space launch system itself, he's described as inefficient, a jobs program, not a results program.

And he said he wants to go straight to Mars,the moon is a distraction.

So that lends itself to a lot of speculation right now that Artemis could very well be on the chopping block.

But we will have to wait and see.

The future administrator, the potential administrator, I guess we would expect him to be the administrator, Jared Isaacman, the billionaire who is slated to do that, has hearings.

And at that time, we will hear a little bit more about his thoughts on it.

But he also calls it a very expensive way to go.

So we will see what happens.

But this could be -- these missions, these CLPS missions, could be the real highlight of Artemis when all is said and done.

GEOFF BENNETT: Miles, is that a widely held view that Artemis is inefficient?

I mean, is this program really in trouble?

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, when you look at a rocket that is that far over budget and that delayed, and the key point here, Geoff, is that the rocket they're building is based on old shuttle and basically Saturn V technology.

It goes back many decades.

It was supposed to be faster and cheaper.

But what they're building is turning out to be very expensive, and it is single-use.

And of course, what SpaceX and Elon Musk have been focused on all this time are reusable rockets.

And that obviously over time drives down the cost tremendously of getting to space.

And that Starship, although it's not flown a perfect mission yet, has flown about a half-a-dozen times.

And it flies a lot cheaper than the Space Launch System, which right now is - - it's unclear when it will fly next.

GEOFF BENNETT: Miles O'Brien, our thanks to you, as always.

MILES O'BRIEN: You're welcome, Geoff.