Odysseus, a robotic spacecraft built by Intuitive Machines, a Houston-based company, has successfully landed on the moon today becoming the first private US moon lander.
This took place at 6:24 p.m. ET and was broadcast live by NASA and Intuitive Machines for the world to see. The landing site was near the lunar south pole, in a crater called Malapert A, which is of scientific interest because of its potential resources and illumination.
Odysseus, also known as IM-1, was launched on February 15th aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission was part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which aims to partner with private companies to deliver scientific and technological payloads to the moon.
Odysseus carried six NASA payloads, including a small astronomical telescope, instruments to study the lunar plasma, the lunar surface, and the lunar environment.
The spacecraft is expected to operate for seven days on the lunar surface, before the night falls and the temperature drops to below -200°C. During this time, it will transmit data and images back to Earth, and perform various experiments and tests.
This mission is a milestone for both Intuitive Machines and the US space program, as it marks the first time a private company has landed a spacecraft on the moon, and the first time the US has landed a spacecraft on the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
It also opens the door for more commercial and scientific exploration of the moon, as well as paving the way for NASA’s Artemis program, which plans to send humans back to the moon by 2026.
NASA’s associate administrator for science, Thomas Zurbuchen, congratulated Intuitive Machines on X, formerly known as Twitter. He also included a caption that reads: “Now: waiting to get a pic from the moon and then send it to the many ppl who said it is impossible!”
