A SpaceX rocket carrying Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander launched Thursday. (Credit: Reuters/NASA)
A SpaceX rocket carrying Intuitive Machines’ Lunar Lander lifts off from Florida Thursday morning in the latest attempt to land an American spacecraft on the moon since the last manned Apollo mission more than 50 years ago. It was done.
The Houston-based company’s Nova-C lander, also known as Odysseus, took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral aboard a Falcon 9 rocket just after 1 a.m. The launch comes after Astrobotic Technology’s lunar lander encountered propulsion problems during its mission in January and was unable to reach the moon.
“Like an arrow shot from Cupid’s bow, the next commercial lunar transport will spread its wings and head for the moon,” NASA wrote on X, along with a video of the launch. “Six of our country’s scientific and technological instruments are heading to the southern highlands of the Moon.”
A video clip posted by SpaceX on Thursday showed the six-legged lander separating from the rocket about 48 minutes into its flight. The lander from Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 mission is scheduled to touch down next Thursday in a “relatively flat and safe area near the Malapart A crater in the moon’s south polar region,” NASA said.
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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Pad LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center on Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C moon landing mission on Thursday, February 15, in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Greg Newton/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images)
The last time an American spacecraft landed on the moon was in 1972 during the Apollo 17 mission.
After launch, Intuitive Machines said the lander “successfully operated in space by establishing a stable attitude, solar charging, and radio communications with the company’s Mission Operations Center in Houston.”
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Intuitive Machines’ Lunar Module Nova-C will be seen in Houston in October 2023. (AP/Intuition Machine/AP Newsroom)
CEO Steve Altemus added, “We are acutely aware of the immense challenges ahead.” “But it is only by facing these challenges head-on that we can realize the magnitude of the opportunity before us: to return America peacefully to the moon for the first time in 52 years. That’s it.”
NASA said in a statement that the instruments on board the lander will provide “scientific research and technology that will help us better understand the lunar environment and improve the accuracy and safety of landings under the difficult conditions of the lunar south polar region.” “We will demonstrate this and pave the way for future Artemis.” astronaut mission. ”
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“The payload will collect data on how engine gas plumes interact with the lunar surface and kick up lunar dust, investigate the interaction of radio astronomy and space weather with the lunar surface, and It will test precision landing techniques and measure the amount of liquid propellant in the Nova -C propellant tank is located in zero gravity in space.
