Intuitive Machines completes the first ever lunar touchdown by a privately built spacecraft.
It took some minutes for controllers to establish that the craft was down, but eventually a signal was received.
"The US has returned to the Moon," he said. "Today, for the first time in the history of humanity, a commercial company - an American company - launched and led the voyage up there. And today is the day that shows the power and promise of Nasa's commercial partnerships."Odysseus' ranging lasers, which were supposed to calculate the craft's altitude and velocity, weren't working properly.
This will led to some concerns about the status of the lander. Within a couple of hours, however, Intuitive Machines was reporting that Odysseus was standing upright and sending back data, including pictures.The landing site is a cratered terrain next to a 5km-high mountain complex known as Malapert. It's the southernmost point on the Moon ever visited by a spacecraft, at 80 degrees South.
"The ice is really important because if we can actually take advantage of that ice on the surface of the Moon, that's less materials we have to bring with us," explained Lori Glaze, Nasa's director of planetary science.
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