A spacecraft built and piloted by the Texas-based company Intuitive Machines LUNR.O landed near the Moon's south pole on Thursday, February 22, the first U.S. moon landing in more than half a century and the first of history carried out by the private sector. Although the module is not equipped with video equipment, the US space agency reported that it will use the information collected by the robot to send humans back to Earth's natural satellite at the end of 2026.
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The unmanned lunar landing module 'Odysseus', launched by the Texan technology company 'Intuitive Machines' in collaboration with NASA and SpaceX, landed near the south pole of the Moon this Thursday, February 22.
After minutes of tension in the company's command center, located in Houston, due to not receiving any signal from the module in the first minutes of the moon landing, the team in charge of the mission on the ground can confirm that 'Odysseus' is already on the lunar surface.
“We are evaluating how we can refine that signal, but we can confirm, without a doubt, that our team is on the surface of the moon,” said Tim Crain, mission director.
The IM-1 mission (where the 'Odysseus' module came) was launched a week ago from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral (Florida), aboard a 'Falcon 9' rocket, owned by SpaceX, achieving successfully land just one day after reaching the orbit of the Moon, this February 21.
NASA confirmed the 'Odysseus' moon landing through a publication on its X profile, where it also explained that “these instruments will prepare us for future human exploration of the Moon”, referring to its 'Artemis' program, which aims to take humans to the lunar surface once again next year, with the aim of exploring the satellite's south pole, as well as the supposed ice deposits that exist in the area.
It is the first time that an American mission reaches the Moon in 50 years, since 'Apollo 17' landed on the moon in 1972. Only the United States, China, India, Japan and the former Soviet Union have managed to successfully send missions to our natural satellite, although only Washington has managed to take humans to the Moon.
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