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A Texas company’s robotic spacecraft will attempt to land on the moon Thursday, a historic feat that, if successful, will make not only mark America’s first return to the lunar surface in 50 years, but also the first private outfit to do so.
Intuitive Machines’ lander, nicknamed Odysseus, is expected to attempt a landing at about 6:24 p.m. ET near Malapert A, a small impact crater about 190 miles from the moon’s south pole, according to NASA.
A smooth touchdown would put the U.S. back in business on the moon for the first time since NASA astronauts closed out the Apollo program in 1972.
Launched last week, Odysseus fired its engine on the back side of the moon while out of contact with Earth. Flight controllers at the company’s Houston headquarters had to wait until the spacecraft emerged to learn whether the lander was in orbit or hurtling aimlessly away.
Intuitive Machines confirmed its lander was circling the moon with experiments from NASA and other clients. The lander is part of a NASA program to kickstart the lunar economy; the space agency is paying $118 million to get its experiments on the moon on this mission.
On Thursday, controllers will lower the orbit from just under 60 miles to 6 miles — a crucial maneuver occurring again on the moon’s far side — before aiming for a touchdown near the moon’s south pole. It’s a dicey place to land with all the craters and cliffs, but deemed prime real estate for astronauts since the permanently shadowed craters are believed to hold frozen water.
If successful, it would also become the first privately built craft to ace a moon landing. Another U.S. company — Astrobotic Technology — tried to send a lander to the moon last month, but it didn’t get there because of a fuel leak. The crippled lander came crashing back through the atmosphere, burning up over the Pacific.
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