Private lander makes first US moon landing
CAPE CANAVERAL (AP) – A private lander on Thursday made the first US touchdown on the moon in more than 50 years, but managed just a weak signal back until flight controllers scrambled to gain better contact.
Despite the spotty communication, Intuitive Machines – the company that built and managed the craft – confirmed that it had landed upright, but did not provide additional details, including whether the lander had reached its intended destination near the moon’s south pole.
The company ended its live webcast soon after identifying a lone, weak signal from the lander.
“What we can confirm, without a doubt, is our equipment is on the surface of the moon,” mission director Tim Crain reported as tension built in the company’s Houston control center. Data was finally starting to stream in, according to a company announcement two hours after touchdown.
Added Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus: “I know this was a nail-biter, but we are on the surface and we are transmitting. Welcome to the moon.”
The landing put the US back on the surface for the first time since NASA’s famed Apollo moonwalkers.
Intuitive Machines also became the first private business to pull off a lunar landing, a feat achieved by only five countries.
The final few hours before touchdown were loaded with extra stress when the lander’s laser navigation system failed. The company’s flight control team had to press an experimental NASA laser system into action, with the lander taking an extra lap around the moon to allow time for the last-minute switch.
With this change finally in place, Odysseus descended from a moonskimming orbit and guided itself toward the surface, aiming for a relatively flat spot among all the cliffs and craters near the south pole.
As the designated touchdown time came and went, controllers at the company’s command center anxiously awaited a signal from the spacecraft some 400,000 kilometers away. After close to 15 minutes, the company announced it had received a weak signal from the lander.
Launched last week, the six-footed carbon fiber and titanium lander – towering 14 feet – carried six experiments for NASA. The space agency gave the company $118 million to build and fly the lander, part of its effort to commercialize lunar deliveries ahead of the planned return of astronauts in a few years.