Tag: The moon

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Laurent Palka is a microbiologist at France’s National Museum of Natural History. Just over five years ago, on 22 February 2019, an unmanned space probe was placed in orbit around the Moon. Named Beresheet and built by SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries, it was intended to be the first private spacecraft to perform a soft landing. Among the probe’s payload were tardigrades, renowed for their ability to survive in even the harshest climates.…

Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus moon lander overcame a number of hurdles during its epic touchdown last week, including one or more broken legs. The 14-foot-tall (4.3 meters) Odysseus settled onto the gray dirt near the moon‘s south pole on Thursday (Feb. 22), pulling off the first American lunar landing since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. But Odysseus’ touchdown was a bit rough. Thanks to an issue with its navigation equipment, the six-legged lander came down faster than expected, onto a patch of lunar ground that was higher in elevation than…

NASA sees an even brighter future for its human moon-landing program after a private robotic mission safely touched down last week. Astronaut Tracy C. Dyson says NASA‘s Artemis program, which aims to put boots on the moon as soon as 2026, is getting “momentum” from the private Intuitive Machines landing. That mission, known as IM-1, made the first soft U.S. lunar touchdown in 52 years this past Thursday (Feb. 22). “It means we can do it,” Dyson told Space.com Monday (Feb. 26) in an exclusive interview before she returns to…

Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus mission is targeting touch down near the moon’s south pole this week for a historic lunar landing.  The Nova-C lunar lander, named Odysseus, was built by the Houston-based company Intuitive Machines and launched to the moon atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Feb. 15 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission, known as IM-1, is scheduled to touchdown on the moon on Thursday (Feb. 22), at 5:49 p.m. EST (2249 GMT) in a region near the lunar south pole. If all goes according to…

The voyaging Odysseus remains on course for a moon landing this week. The Odysseus moon lander, built by Houston company Intuitive Machines, completed two engine burns in deep space on Feb. 16 and Feb. 18 and is sailing on the right course through space, the company said on X. The mission lifted off on a a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket early Feb. 15 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and all systems and science are healthy as it makes its way towards the moon. But the lander will soon…

A pioneering moon lander has beamed home its first photos from the final frontier. Intuitive Machines‘ robotic Odysseus spacecraft snapped a few selfies with Earth in the background shortly after its Feb. 15 launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket — and we can all check them out. “Intuitive Machines successfully transmitted its first IM-1 mission images to Earth on February 16, 2024. The images were captured shortly after separation from @SpaceX’s second stage on Intuitive Machines’ first journey to the moon under @NASA’s CLPS initiative,” the Houston-based company wrote Saturday…