Essay by Eric Worrall

An exciting new milestone in the quest to conquer space.

Moon landing today: US clinches first touchdown in 50 years

By Steve Gorman and Joey Roulette
February 23, 202410:51 AM GMT+10Updated an hour ago

Feb 22 (Reuters) – A spacecraft built and flown by Texas-based company Intuitive Machines landed near the south pole of the moon on Thursday, the first U.S. touchdown on the lunar surface in more than half a century and the first ever achieved by the private sector.

The uncrewed six-legged robot lander, dubbed Odysseus, touched down at about 6:23 p.m. EST (2323 GMT), the company and NASA commentators said in a joint webcast of the landing from Intuitive Machines’ (LUNR.O), opens new tab mission operations center in Houston.

…

“Our equipment is on the surface of the moon, and we are transmitting, so congratulations IM team,” Intuitive Machines mission director Tim Crain was heard telling the operations center. “We’ll see what more we can get from that.”

…

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/us-nears-attempt-first-moon-landing-half-century-with-private-robot-spacecraft-2024-02-22/

A huge congratulations to mission director Tim Crain and his team, I think we’re all looking forward to the next Intuitive Machines mission.