Lunar Night Permanently Ends the Odysseus Mission
On February 15th, Intuitive Machines (IM) launched its first Nova-C class spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. On February 22nd, the spacecraft – codenamed Odysseus (or “Odie”) – became the first American-built vehicle to soft-land on the lunar surface since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. While the…
Odysseus Is Going to Sleep After Sending Snapshots From Moon Landing
Intuitive Machines says it’s putting its Odysseus moon lander to bed for a long lunar night, with hopes of reviving it once the sun rises again near the moon’s south pole. The Houston-based company and NASA recapped Odysseus’s six days of operation on the lunar surface, shared pictures showing its off-kilter configuration, and looked ahead…
That moment when you land on the Moon, break a leg,...
Enlarge / A photo of Odysseus the moment before it gently toppled over.Intuitive Machines After six days and the public release of new images, engineers have finally pieced together the moments before, during, and after the Odysseus lander touched down on the Moon. During a news conference on Wednesday, the chief executive of Intuitive Machines,…
Space photos from 5 recent moon-landing missions show how tiny engineering...
Landing on the moon is so difficult that, until last year, only three nations had ever done it without crashing. Recently, India, Japan, and one private company — Intuitive Machines — have joined their ranks.Intuitive Machines' moon landing on Thursday was particularly significant, returning the US to the lunar surface for the first time in nearly 52…
Intuitive Machines almost lost its moon lander because somebody forgot to...
A serendipitous moment, a NASA experiment, and frantic, innovative software engineering rescued the company's Odysseus lander from what could have been a catastrophic error — a switch that didn't get flipped before launch.That simple mistake disabled the lasers designed to guide the spacecraft to a flat, safe spot for landing, Intuitive Machines cofounder and CEO…
The first private company just landed on the moon. Here’s how...
A Houston company made history by successfully landing the first commercial US spacecraft on the moon, more than 50 years after the US made its last crewed landing. The aerospace company, Intuitive Machines, worked with NASA to launch the Nova-C lunar lander in their "IM-1." The collaboration, which included technology from other private companies, marks…
A little US company makes history by landing on the Moon
Enlarge / Odysseus passes over the near side of the Moon following lunar orbit insertion on February 21. Intuitive Machines For the first time in more than half a century, a US-built spacecraft has made a soft landing on the Moon. There was high drama and plenty of intrigue on Thursday evening as Intuitive Machines…
Watch the video of Intuitive Machines and NASA landing on the...
Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in a personalized feed while you're on the go. download the app NASA returned to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years on Thursday, with help from Houston-based company Intuitive Machines.The uncrewed Odysseus lunar lander, built and operated by Intuitive Machines, became the…
NASA is back on the moon — with the first commercial...
NASA and Intuitive Machines' IM-1 mission landed on the moon Thursday — with a complication.This is NASA's first return to the lunar surface since the last Apollo mission in 1972.The IM-1 mission's landing helps catapult the US into a 21st-century space race to the moon's south pole. Thanks for signing up! Access your favorite topics in…
Fueling a spacecraft while it’s on a rocket? “Not trivial,” SpaceX...
Enlarge / A Falcon 9 rocket is seen with a Nova C lander tucked in its payload fairing.SpaceX Are you ready for round two of the lunar lottery? As early as Thursday morning, a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a privately developed lunar lander may launch from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The vehicle, built by…
