Intuitive Machines makes history with successful private moon landing
"Without a shadow of a doubt, we can affirm that our equipment is presently on the lunar surface and transmitting signals to Earth," said the manager of Intuitive Machines from their headquarters in Houston.
Odysseus accomplishes lunar landing
This triumph for Intuitive Machines signifies that it is the first private company to have successfully landed a spacecraft on the Moon's surface. This historic accomplishment is a significant breakthrough in the realm of private space exploration.
This also constitutes an important milestone for NASA as well as for the whole American community involved in aviation and astronautics. As pointed out by the BBC, it's been over half a century since the last successful moon mission.
Based on the data provided by Intuitive Machines, the Odysseus probe established its initial, though initially weak, connection with the Moon at 6:23 PM ET. This signal substantially strengthened after about ten minutes.
It's important to note that the last American space vehicle to land on the Moon was in December 1972. On that occasion, the US sent NASA's Apollo 17 lander to the celestial body. This marked the final mission within the Apollo program structure as well as the sixth manned mission to the Moon.
