The Odysseus spacecraft from the United States successfully landed on the moon on Thursday, becoming the first American spacecraft to achieve the feat in more than 50 years. This milestone makes Intuitive Machines (IM), the commercial venture behind the Nova-C lander, the first private venture to accomplish a successful landing on the lunar surface. This achievement marks the first American soft landing on the lunar surface since the Apollo era in 1972.
Earlier, in August 2023, India’s Chandrayaan-3 lander became the first spacecraft from India to safely reach the lunar surface. India achieved a soft landing on the lunar South Pole with a robotic vehicle for the first time in the 21st century. Steve Altemus, CEO of Intuitive Machines, announced on the webcast, “I know this was a nail-biter, but we are on the surface, and we are transmitting. Welcome to the moon.”
While the exact condition of the lander is not yet clear, the company has confirmed that it has made contact with the moon. The landing site of Odysseus is near Malapert A, an impact crater near the moon’s south pole. According to NASA, this site is “a relatively flat and safe region within the heavily cratered southern highlands on the side of the Moon visible from Earth.”
During the landing, the spacecraft experienced communication issues, but an Intuitive Machines flight controller confirmed that the lander is “not dead yet” and they have received a “faint signal.” The US remains the only country to have put humans on the lunar surface, most recently in 1972 with the Apollo 17 mission.
NASA selected this landing site for Intuitive Machines’ first mission to learn more about the lunar environment and how communications function in this area. The space agency believes that the lunar south pole is the best location to set up a future astronaut base.