Private spacecraft Odysseus makes history as it lands on the Moon, 50 years after the last US lunar mission. world News

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New Delhi: It was a historic moment for the United States as the Odysseus spacecraft landed softly on the Moon on Thursday (local time), breaking a gap of 50 years since the last American lunar landing. The Nova-C lander, developed by Intuitive Machines (IM), a commercial space company, also achieved a remarkable feat by becoming the first privately owned spacecraft to reach the lunar surface. This was the first time an American spacecraft had made a soft landing on the Moon since the end of the Apollo program in 1972.

The Odysseus landing follows India’s successful lunar mission in August 2023, when the Chandrayaan-3 lander became the first Indian spacecraft to land safely on the Moon. India also achieved a historic feat by landing a robotic rover on the south pole of the Moon, an area never explored before in the 21st century.


“We are on the surface, and we are transmitting,” Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus announced on the webcast. “Welcome to the moon.” The company has not yet confirmed the position of the lander, but it has established contact with the moon. The Odysseus spacecraft landed near Malapert A, a crater near the Moon’s south pole.

According to NASA, the site is “(a) relatively flat and protected area within the heavily cratered southern highlands on the side of the Moon visible from Earth.” The spacecraft encountered some communication problems before landing and missed the expected landing time.

However, an Intuitive Machines flight controller reported that the lander was “not dead yet” and that they had received a “light signal”. The US is the only country to have sent humans to the Moon, the last manned mission being Apollo 17 in 1972. NASA said it chose this landing site for Intuitive Machines’ first mission because it wanted to learn more about the Moon’s environment and how. Communication work in this area. NASA also plans to explore the south pole of the Moon as it believes it is an ideal location for a future astronaut base.