A privately built spacecraft has landed safely on the moon, marking the first time the US has reached the lunar surface since the end of the Apollo era 50 years ago.
Odysseus, a $118 million unmanned lander built by Intuitive Machines, made a soft landing near the moon’s south pole at 6:24 PM ET last night.
During his 73-minute descent, Odysseus, or Oddie, slowed from speeds of 4,000 mph (6,500 km per hour) to make a soft landing in an area full of craters.
However, the mission nearly ended in failure when the craft was forced to switch to an experimental navigation system mid-landing.
“I know this was a nail-biter, but we’re on the surface and we’re broadcasting. Welcome to the moon,” said Steve Altemus, CEO of Intuitive Machines.
Intuitive Machines and NASA employees celebrate as the Odysseus lander makes the first successful US moon landing in more than 50 years
Odysseus, a $118 million unmanned lander built by intuitive machines, made a soft landing near the moon’s south pole last night at 6:24 PM ET
Six days ago, Oddyseus launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The unmanned spacecraft has been orbiting the moon about 58 miles (92 kilometers) above the surface since entering orbit on Wednesday.
Odie remained “in excellent health” as it continued to orbit the moon, about 250,000 miles from Earth, transmitting flight data and lunar images to Intuitive Machines’ mission control center in Houston, the company said Wednesday.
But as the operation entered its final stages, Oddie’s handlers discovered that the laser rangefinders were not working.
This essential system allows the spacecraft to determine how far above the moon’s surface it is and can make the difference between a soft landing and a crash.
Odysseus, or Odie (pictured) was launched six days ago aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 before making the 385,000 km (239,000 mi) journey to the moon
Odysseus was partly funded by NASA, which paid to bring scientific equipment on board, but also carried a number of other objects, including 125 miniature sculptures by Jeff Koons.
Using a last-minute software patch, engineers were able to convert NASA’s experimental navigation Doppler Lidar, which was carried in the payload, to the job.
At 6:11 PM EST, Odysseus fired his engine for the crucial 11-minute burn, slowing from 4,000 mph (6,500 km per hour) to just 2.2 mph (3.5 km per hour), 33 feet above the surface.
After slowing the fall, Oddie landed safely on the rim of the giant Malapert A crater, about 200 miles north of the moon’s south pole.
After 15 tense minutes, the crew on Earth finally received Oddie’s signal, confirming that the landing had been a success.
Shortly after receiving the signal, mission director Tim Crain said, “What we can confirm without a doubt is that our equipment is on the surface of the moon and we are transmitting.
“Houston, Odysseus has found his new home.”
NASA administrator Bill Nelson added in a statement about X that Odysseus “made the landing of his life.”
The Odysseus lunar lander is the first privately built lander to make a soft landing on the moon. Here you will see a diagram with the most important technical details
In a statement on
‘We are currently working on downlinking the first images of the moon’s surface.’
There are currently no images or images of the lander on the moon, but these are expected to follow.
Remote ‘EagleCam’, which would shoot out of the spacecraft during the final seconds of descent, could be released.
The landing attempt was streamed live NASA TV So it is not clear why there was a delay in receiving images from the lander.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson added in a statement about X that Odysseus “made the landing of his life”
The landing marks the first time since 1972 with the last Apollo mission that a US spacecraft has successfully landed on the moon.
Although the lander was built by Intuitive Machines, NASA partially funded the operation by purchasing cargo space aboard Odysseus.
This also marks the first moon landing with a rocket from Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which Intuitive Machines paid $130 million for the launch.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a video congratulating everyone involved: “We have taken the moon.
Today, the US returned to the moon for the first time in more than half a century.
“Today is a day that shows the power and promise of NASA’s commercial partnerships,” he added.
“Congratulations to everyone involved in this great and daring quest.”
The $118 million unmanned Odysseus landed in a crater called Malapert A near the moon’s south pole at 6:24 PM ET after slowing from 6,000 km/h
This image from Intuitive Machines shows the Odysseus lunar lander over the near side of the moon after entering lunar orbit on Wednesday
The six-legged robot lander touched down at 5:30 PM ET in a crater called Malapert A (pictured) near the moon’s south pole
The magnitude of this challenge is highlighted by the recent failures of other landing attempts.
Odie’s mission comes a month after another private company attempted to land on the moon but failed.
Astrobotic Technology attempted to return America to the lunar surface with its Peregrine, but the lander suffered a propulsion system leak en route shortly after being placed in orbit.
More recently, Japan’s SLIM lander successfully landed on the moon, but ultimately became stuck upside down due to an engine failure during landing.
The mission was made even more difficult by Intuitive Machine’s choice of landing site.
The Malapert A Crater is a rocky area full of craters that could destabilize or topple a lander.
However, it is also believed that this area near the moon’s south pole could be rich in frozen water that could be essential for a future lunar base.
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Odysseus is carrying NASA equipment designed to gather information about the area chosen as the landing site for the space agency’s 2026 manned Artemis III mission.
The NASA payload will focus on collecting data on the interactions between space weather and the lunar surface, radio astronomy and other aspects of the lunar environment.
Intuitive Machines named its lander after Homer’s hero in “The Odyssey,” or simply “Odie.”
‘Religion, Odysseus. Now let’s make history,” said Trent Martin, vice president of space systems.
Only five countries – the US, Russia, China, India and Japan – have scored a moon landing, and no private company has done so yet.
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from launch pad LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center with Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander mission, in Cape Canaveral
The United States has not returned to the lunar surface since the Apollo program ended more than fifty years ago.
“There have been a lot of sleepless nights preparing for this,” Steve Altemus, co-founder and CEO of Intuitive Machines, said before the flight.
The current mission “will be one of the first forays to the South Pole to actually look at the environmental conditions of a place where we will send our astronauts in the future,” said Joel Kearns, a senior NASA official.
‘What kind of dust or dirt is there, how hot or cold does it get, what is the radiation environment? These are all things you would really like to know before you send out the first human explorers.”