Odysseus: Back to the moon for US after over 50 years as private mission makes historic landing

Private US spacecraft Odysseus crafted history by landing on the surface of the Moon near the South Pole, days after blasting off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida last Thursday (February 15). This is an astounding success as it is the first time in over 50 years that a US lunar mission has been successful. About over 50 years ago, the US Lunar Module named "Challenger" landed in the Taurus-Littrow region of the Moon on December 11, 1972.

Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus, while providing an update on the moon landing of Odysseus, which is also called “Odie” or IM-1, said, "I know this was a nail-biter, but we are on the surface, and we are transmitting."

"Welcome to the moon," he added. The time of expected landing for the lunar lander was 6:24 pm ET, shortly after which Intuitive Machines provided an update on the landing in a webcast.

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Earlier, saying that the lander is "not dead yet," an Intuitive Machines flight controller said, "We have an onboard fault detection system for our communications that after 15 minutes with lack of communication will power cycle the radios and then after that for another 15 minutes it will then switch antenna pairs, so we have some time here to evaluate."

NASA reacts

Taking to X social media platform, NASA wrote, "Your order was delivered… to the Moon!"

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"(Intuitive Machines') uncrewed lunar lander landed at 6:23pm ET (2323 UTC), bringing NASA science to the Moon's surface. These instruments will prepare us for future human exploration of the Moon under #Artemis," the space agency added.

Notably, the first US moon landing took place on July 20, 1969, during the Apollo 11 mission.

Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the lunar surface while their colleague Michael Collins orbited above in the command module.

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Neil Armstrong's famous words as he stepped onto the Moon were, "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind." This historic event marked a milestone in human space exploration.

(With inputs from agencies)