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'Welcome to the moon': How Odysseus 'aced the landing of a lifetime' as it touched down on the lunar surface following a nail-biting 73-minute descent - marking the first time the US has reached the moon in more than 50 years
A privately built spacecraft has landed safely on the moon, marking the first time the US has reached the lunar surface since the end of the Apollo era 50 years ago.
Odysseus, a $118 million uncrewed lander built by Intuitive Machines, made a soft landing near the moon's south pole at 6:24pm ET last night.
During its 73-minute descent, Odysseus, or Oddie, slowed down from speeds of 4,000mph (6,500kph) to make a soft landing in an area pockmarked with craters.
However, the mission nearly ended in failure when the craft was forced to switch to an experimental navigation system mid-landing.
'I know this was a nail-biter, but we are on the on the surface, and we are transmitting. Welcome to the moon,' said Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus.
Intuitive Machines and NASA employees celebrate as the Odysseus lander made the first successful American moon landing in over 50 years
Odysseus, a $118 million uncrewed lander built by Intuitive machines, made a soft landing near the moon's south pole at 6:24 pm ET last night
Six days ago, Oddyseus was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The uncrewed craft had been circling the moon about 57 miles above the surface since reaching orbit on Wednesday.
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.
But, as it moved into the final stages of the operation, Oddie's handlers discovered that the laser range-finders weren't working.
This vital system is what allows the craft to determine how far it is above the lunar surface and can make the difference between a soft landing and a crash.
Odysseus, or Odie (pictured) was launched six days ago aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 before making the 385,000 km (239,000 mile) journey to the moon
Odysseus was partly funded by NASA who paid to put scientific equipment aboard but also carried a number of other objects including 125 miniature sculptures by Jeff Koons
Using a last-minute software patch the engineers were able to convert NASA's experimental Navigation Doppler Lidar, which was being carried in the payload, to take on the job.
At 6:11pm EST, Odysseus fired its engine for the crucial 11-minute burn, decelerating from 4,000mph (6,500kph) to just 2.2mph (3.5kph), 33ft above the surface.
Having slowed its fall, Oddie landed safely on the rim of the giant Malapert A crater about 190 miles (300km) north of the moon's South Pole.
After 15 tense minutes, the crew back on Earth finally received Oddie's signal, confirming that the landing had been a success.
Shortly after receiving the signal, Mission director Tim Crain said: 'What we can confirm without a doubt is, our equipment is on the surface of the moon and we are transmitting.
'Houston, Odysseus has found its new home.'
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson added, in a statement on X, that Odysseus had 'aced the landing of a lifetime.'
Odysseus moon lander is the first privately build lander to make a soft landing on the moon. Pictured here is a diagram showing the key technical details
The scale of this challenge is highlighted by the recent failures of other landing attempts. Pictured: the locations of the previous moon landings
In a statement posted to X, Intuitive Machines said: 'After troubleshooting communications, flight controllers have confirmed Odysseus is upright and starting to send data.
'Right now, we are working to downlink the first images from the lunar surface.'
There are currently no images or footage of the lander on the moon, but these are expected to follow.
External 'EagleCam' that was supposed to shoot out from the spacecraft during its final seconds of descent could be released.
The landing attempt was live streamed on NASA TV so it is not clear why there has been a delay in receiving images from the lander.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson added, in a statement on X, that Odysseus had 'aced the landing of a lifetime'
This chart shows possible sites for mining on the moon's South Pole. Locations of water are shown in blue while key locations for helium and rare earth metals are numbered
The landing marks the first time since 1972 with the last Apollo mission that an American craft has made a successful landing on the moon.
Although the lander was built by Intuitive Machines, NASA partly funded the operation by buying cargo space aboard Odysseus.
This also marks the first moon landing using a rocket from Elon Musk's SpaceX, which was paid $130m (£103m) by Intuitive Machines for the launch.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a video congratulating all involved: 'We've taken the moon.
'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.'
The $118million unmanned Odysseus touched down at 6:24pm ET at a crater called Malapert A near the moon's south pole, having slowed down from 4,000mph
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 touched down at 5:30pm ET at a crater called Malapert A (pictured) near the moon's south pole
The scale of this challenge is highlighted by the recent failures of other landing attempts.
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.
More recently, the Japanese SLIM lander successfully touched down on the moon but ended up stuck upside down due to an engine failure during landing.
The mission was made yet more difficult by Intuitive Machine's choice of landing site.
The Malapert A Crater is a rocky area pockmarked with craters which could destabilise or topple a lander.
However, it is also believed that this region near the moon's south pole could be rich in frozen water that could be essential to a future lunar base.
Odysseus is carrying equipment from NASA designed to gather information about the area which has been chosen as the landing site for the space agency's crewed Artemis III mission in 2026.
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.
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.
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
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.'