The Odysseus spacecraft from Intuitive Machines has successfully landed on the Moon, becoming the first private spacecraft to do so. NASA announced this on Twitter.
This is the first American vehicle since the Apollo missions to reach this point. Odysseus carried NASA instruments that will be used to prepare manned missions to the Moon in the future as part of the Artemis program.
After several hours of technical problems that delayed the landing, Odysseus is now on the moon and working, but it is unknown whether it will be able to achieve its planned mission objectives before the limited time expires.
Your order was delivered… to the Moon! 📦@Int_Machines‘ uncrewed lunar lander landed at 6:23pm ET (2323 UTC), bringing NASA science to the Moon’s surface. These instruments will prepare us for future human exploration of the Moon under #Artemis. pic.twitter.com/sS0poiWxrU
– NASA (@NASA) February 22, 2024
Intuitive Machines plans to launch two more lunar vehicles this year.
