Odysseus: US Returns to Moon After 50 Years with Private Mission’s Historic Landing

In a recent update, an Intuitive Machines flight controller remained hopeful about their lunar lander’s status, emphasizing, “it’s not dead yet.” They detailed how the lander’s inbuilt fault detection mechanism for communications would first attempt to power cycle the radios after 15 minutes of silence. If unsuccessful, it would switch to an alternative set of antennas after another 15 minutes, allowing some time for assessment.

In response, NASA took to the X social media platform to announce, “Your order was delivered… to the Moon!”

The space agency elaborated that the Intuitive Machines’ unmanned lunar lander touched down on the Moon at 6:23 pm ET (2323 UTC), carrying NASA scientific instruments to the lunar surface. These instruments are set to lay the groundwork for the future manned missions to the Moon as part of the #Artemis program.

It’s worth noting that the United States’ maiden lunar landing occurred on July 20, 1969, during the Apollo 11 mission. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin were the first to walk on the Moon, while Michael Collins remained in orbit within the command module.

As Neil Armstrong made his historic first steps on the Moon, he famously declared, “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind,” marking a significant achievement in the annals of human space exploration.