Odysseus is scheduled to land at 6:24pm ET/11:24pm GMT
Maanvi Singh
Odysseus is scheduled to land at 6:24pm ET/11:24pm GMT.
Intuitive Machines originally said it would touch down at 5:49 p.m. ET and then 5:30 p.m., but this morning it announced it could land even earlier at 4:24 p.m. Ultimately, however, flight controllers decided to make one more orbit around the moon with Odysseus before landing, delaying the event by two hours.
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Intuitive Machines had initially said it would land at 5.49pm ET, then 5.30pm, and this morning said it could land even earlier at 4.24pm. But ultimately flight controllers decided to circle the Odysseus around the moon one more time before landing, delaying the event by two hours.
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Welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the latest attempt to successfully soft-land the very first private lander on our closest neighbor – the moon!
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Last week SpaceX’s Falcon rocket blasted off in the middle of the US night from Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center, dispatching Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander on its 230,000 miles (370,000km) journey.
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Today the Odysseus lander is attempting to make the perilous descent. Houston-based Intuitive Machines’ aims to put its 14ft-tall, six-legged lander down just 186 miles (300km) shy of the moon’s south pole
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Only five countries – the US, Russia, China, India and Japan – have scored a lunar landing and no private business has yet done so. The US has not returned to the moon’s surface since the Apollo program ended more than five decades ago.
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Stay tuned for what could be a nerve-racking ride …
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caption”:”SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Launch Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center last week carrying Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C moon landing mission. “,”Credit”:”Photo: Greg Newton/AFP/Getty Images”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:false,”keyEvent”:true,”summary”:false},”blockCreatedOn”: 1708639279000,”blockCreatedOnDisplay”:”17.01 EST”,”blockLastUpdated “:1708641094000,”blockLastUpdatedDisplay”:”17.31 EST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1708639279000,”blockFirstPublishedDisplay”:”17.01 EST”,” blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone”:”17.01″,” title”:”Intuitive Machines Odysseus on the Moon”, “Contributor”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Thursday 22 February 2024 17.46 EST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”Initial publication date Thursday 22 February 2024 17.01 EST”}],”filterKeyEvents”:false,”id”:”key -events-carousel-mobile “}” config=”{“renderingTarget”:”Web”,”darkModeAvailable”:false}”>
important events
ian sample
For many years, space exploration was a state-run enterprise, but a new NASA program has opened the door to private enterprise. Today’s landing attempt is one of a fleet of private spacecraft heading to the moon within the next few years. Under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, NASA funds companies that build spacecraft and deliver cargo to various locations on the lunar surface, along with payloads from other paying organizations.
The agreement is a way to get equipment to the moon before astronauts return to the moon later this year. But some scientists are unsettled by this new era of lunar exploration. Future landers aim to drill for ice and other materials, potentially iron and rare earths, which are of interest to mining companies but may also cause damage to sites of scientific interest. , could disrupt scientific experiments on the Moon that rely on isolation and contamination. free environment.
The problem is that no one is coordinating plans. And the more landers land and the more companies invest, the more we break down a fair and trustworthy process that allows all countries and all sectors to pursue their objectives without disrupting others. will become increasingly difficult.
Richard Luscombe
Nova-C, an unmanned lander manufactured by Intuitive Machines, was launched on February 15th. The planned landing near the moon’s south pole will be the first by a U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon since NASA’s last Apollo mission in December 1972, and the first by a non-governmental organization.
“There were a lot of sleepless nights preparing for this,” Steve Altemus, co-founder and CEO of Intuitive Machines, said in a pre-mission interview. Before founding the company with about 90 employees in 2013, Altemus served as director of engineering at NASA and deputy director of the Johnson Space Center.
The lander is a 14-foot (4.3-meter) hexagonal craft with six legs that aims to land in Malapart A, a crater near the moon’s south pole. Odysseus is carrying six NASA science instruments and a technology demonstration payload as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services Initiative.
Intuitive Machine has publicly expressed satisfaction with the progress its lander has made toward the moon.
The image was successfully sent back to Earth.
Intuitive Machines successfully transmitted the first IM-1 mission image to Earth on February 16, 2024. The image was taken shortly after separation from Earth. @SpaceXPhase 2 of Intuitive Machines’ first trip to the moon @NASACLPS Initiative. pic.twitter.com/9LccL6q5tF
— Intuitive Machines (@Int_Machines) February 17, 2024
“}}” config=”{“renderingTarget”:”Web”,”darkModeAvailable”:false}”>
Intuitive Machines successfully transmitted the first IM-1 mission image to Earth on February 16, 2024. The image was taken shortly after separation from Earth. @SpaceXPhase 2 of Intuitive Machines’ first trip to the moon @NASACLPS Initiative. pic.twitter.com/9LccL6q5tF
— Intuitive Machines (@Int_Machines) February 17, 2024
Odysseus is scheduled to land at 6:24pm ET/11:24pm GMT
Maanvi Singh
Odysseus is scheduled to land at 6:24pm ET/11:24pm GMT.
Intuitive Machines originally said it would touch down at 5:49 p.m. ET and then 5:30 p.m., but this morning it announced it could land even earlier at 4:24 p.m. Ultimately, however, flight controllers decided to make one more orbit around the moon with Odysseus before landing, delaying the event by two hours.
Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus aims to land on the moon
Welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the latest successful attempt to soft-land the first civilian lander on our nearest neighbor, the Moon!
Last week, a SpaceX Falcon rocket lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at midnight in the United States, setting off Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander on a 230,000-mile (370,000-kilometer) journey.
Today, the Odysseus lander is attempting a dangerous descent.Houston-based Intuitive Machines aims to land its 14-foot-tall, six-legged lander just 186 miles (300 kilometers) short of the moon’s south pole.
Only five countries have successfully landed on the moon: the United States, Russia, China, India, and Japan; no private company has yet landed on the moon. The United States has not returned to the moon’s surface since the Apollo program ended more than 50 years ago.
It could be a nerve-wracking ride, so stay tuned…
