Touchdown! NASA-backed Odysseus craft lands on south pole of moon in first US expedition since 1972 as it prepares to drill for water for upcoming manned mission

America successfully returned to the moon on Thursday, marking the first time a US-made craft touched down on the lunar surface since the last Apollo mission in 1972.

The $118million unmanned Odysseus, or Odie, a six-legged robot lander touched down at 6:24pm ET at a crater called Malapert A, near the moon's south pole, having slowed down from 6,500 kph (4,000 mph).

'Houston, Odysseus has found its new home,' said mission director Dr. Tim Crain shortly after confirmation of the signal. 

'I know this was a nail-biter, but we are on the on the surface, and we are transmitting,' Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said. 'Welcome to the moon.'

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a video congratulation all involved: 'We've taken the moon.' 

America successfully returned to the moon on Thursday, marking the first time a US-made craft touched down on the lunar surface since the last Apollo mission in 1972. Pictured: Intuitive Machines and NASA employees celebrate

Odysseus, or Odie, is soaring through space, but unlike previous trips, this one is owned by Houston-based Intuitive Machines

'Today for the first time in more than a half-century, the US has returned to the moon.

'Today is a day that shows the power and promise of NASA's commercial partnerships,' he added. 'Congratulations to everyone involved in this great and daring quest.'

Underscoring the technical challenges inherent in the task, Houston-based Intuitive Machines was forced to make a late switch from using the craft's own navigation system, which stopped working, to an experimental laser landing system built by NASA. 

Images from an external 'EagleCam' that was supposed to shoot out from the spacecraft during its final seconds of descent could be released.

For the time being, however, nothing is certain.

'Without a doubt our equipment is on the surface of the Moon and we are transmitting,' said Tim Crain, the company's chief technology officer. 'So congratulations IM team, we'll see how much more we can get from that.'

The landing attempt was live streamed on NASA TV. Flight controllers were expected to confirm landing around 15 seconds after the milestone was achieved.

While the mission is operated by a private company, NASA has sponsored the journey to take its scientific instruments and technology to the moon. 

The NASA payload will focus on collecting data on space weather interactions with the moon's surface, radio astronomy and other aspects of the lunar environment for future landers and NASA's planned return of astronauts later in the decade.

However, Odie's mission comes one month after another private company tried and failed to land on the moon.

Astrobotic Technology attempted to bring America back to the lunar surface with its Peregrine, but the lander suffered a propulsion system leak on its way shortly after being placed in orbit.

NASA administrator Bill Nelson made an announcement after the successful landing congratulating all involved

The $118million unmanned Odysseus, or Odie, a six-legged robot lander touched down at 6:24pm ET at a crater called Malapert A near the moon's south pole, having slowed down from 6,500 kph

This image provided by Intuitive Machines shows its Odysseus lunar lander over the near side of the moon following lunar orbit insertion on Wednesday

The six-legged robot lander is scheduled to touch down at 5:30pm ET at a crater called Malapert A near the moon's south pole

Nova-C attempts first Moon landing by private company

The un-crewed craft has been circling the moon about 57 miles above the surface since reaching orbit on Wednesday.

Peregrine made a return back for Earth, where it burned up in the atmosphere.

The malfunction of Astrobotic's Peregrine lander marked the third failure of a private company to achieve a lunar touchdown, following ill-fated efforts by companies from Israel and Japan.

But Intuitive Machines has beat the odds with Odie.

Six days ago, it was launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

This is the first launch to the moon conducted by Elon Musk's company.

Odie remained 'in excellent health' as it continued to orbit the moon, roughly 239,000 miles from Earth, transmitting flight data and lunar images to Intuitive Machines' mission control center in Houston, the company said on Wednesday.

The vehicle is carrying a suite of scientific instruments and technology demonstrations for NASA and several commercial customers designed to operate for seven days on solar energy before the sun sets over the polar landing site.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from launch pad LC-39A at the Kennedy Space Center with the Intuitive Machines' Nova-C moon lander mission, in Cape Canaveral

Odysseus moon lander

Intuitive Machines nicknamed its lander after Homer's hero in 'The Odyssey,' or 'Odie' for short. 

'Godspeed, Odysseus. Now let´s go make history,' said Trent Martin, vice president of space systems.

Only five countries - the US, Russia, China, India and Japan - have scored a lunar landing and no private business has yet done so. 

The United States has not returned to the moon's surface since the Apollo program ended more than five decades ago.

'There have been a lot of sleepless nights getting ready for this,' Intuitive Machines´ co-founder and chief executive Steve Altemus said before the flight.

The current mission 'will be one of the first forays into the south pole to actually look at the environmental conditions to a place we're going to be sending our astronauts in the future,' said senior NASA official Joel Kearns.

'What type of dust or dirt is there, how hot or cold does it get, what's the radiation environment? These are all things you'd really like to know before you send the first human explorers.'