Intuitive Machines is angling to pull off the first commercial space landing. The Houston space startup’s IM-1 mission is set to take off this week with the aim of carrying its Odysseus lander to the Moon.
The lander will be shuttled to the Moon on a SpaceX Falcon 9. The window for takeoff opens just after midnight on Wednesday and is open until Friday, February 16. If successful, Intuitive Machines will go down in history for the first commercial space landing on the Moon, as well as the first American soft landing since Apollo 17 touched down in 1972.
The news of IM-1 followed Astrobotic’s recently failed attempt at its own lunar landing. Last month, the mission to send the Peregrine lander to the Moon went awry after its rocket sprung a leak and suffered a critical loss of fuel. The mission goal pivoted to simply getting as close as possible to the Moon, as an actual landing was rendered impossible.
IM-1 is being carried out as part of the NASA Commercial Launch Program Services, a sub-division of Project Artemis that aims to shuttle payloads to the lunar surface. Part of the mission is dedicated to demoing “autonomous navigation” in support of new geolocation and navigation technology.
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