Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ:LUNR) becomes the first company to return on the Moon and its stock soars as a result.
After a short journey to the Moon, Intuitive Machines’s NOVA C Odysseus lunar lander finally landed on the Moon and set multiple records. With its successful landing, Odysseus became the first lunar lander from an American company to land on the Moon. Additionally, it has also marked the start of NASA’s Artemis program by returning the U.S. to the lunar surface decades after the end of the Apollo program.Intuitive Machines’ Nova C Becomes First U.S. Lander To Land On Moon After Apollo Era
Ahead of today’s landing, Intuitive Machines and NASA provided multiple updates about a potential landing time, with the final update sharing that the lander would make an additional orbit of the Moon before attempting to land on the lunar south pole. Today’s landing came after Odysseus adjusted its low lunar obit that initially brought forward its landing time. However, the subsequent additional lunar orbit caused another schedule change and moved it forward.
The lander was initially slated to land on the Moon at 6:24 p.m. Eastern Time, but Intuitive Machines’s mission control center in Texas could not confirm a soft landing 13 minutes after the landing time.
