International Courant
The Odysseus spacecraft made by Houston-based Intuitive Machines has efficiently landed on the floor of the moon. It marks the primary time a spacecraft from a non-public firm has landed on the lunar floor, and it is the primary US-made craft to achieve the moon for the reason that Apollo missions.
Odysseus was carrying NASA devices, which the house company mentioned can be used to assist put together for future crewed missions to the moon beneath the Artemis program. NASA confirmed the touchdown occurred at 6:23 PM ET on February 22. The lander launched from Earth on February 15, with the assistance of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
In keeping with The New York Instances, there have been some “technical points with the flight” that delayed the touchdown for a few hours. Intuitive Machines CTO Tim Crain advised the paper that “Odysseus is unquestionably on the moon and working nevertheless it stays to be seen whether or not the mission can obtain its goals.” Odysseus has a restricted window of a couple of week to ship knowledge again right down to Earth earlier than darkness units in and makes the solar-powered craft inoperable.
Intuitive Machines wasn’t the primary non-public firm to aim a touchdown. Astrobotic made an try final month with its Peregrine lander, nevertheless it was unsuccessful. Intuitive Machines is planning to launch two different lunar landers this yr.
