Current:Home > reviewsPrivate lunar lander is closing in on the first US touchdown on the moon in a half-century -GrowthInsight
Private lunar lander is closing in on the first US touchdown on the moon in a half-century
View
Date:2025-04-19 03:15:19
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A private lunar lander circled the moon while aiming for a touchdown Thursday that would put the U.S. back on the surface for the first time since NASA’s famed Apollo moonwalkers.
Intuitive Machines was striving to become the first private business to successfully pull off a lunar landing, a feat achieved by only five countries. A rival company’s lander missed the moon last month.
The newest lander, named Odysseus, reached the moon Wednesday, six days after rocketing from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The lander maneuvered into a low lunar orbit in preparation for an early evening touchdown.
Flight controllers monitored the action unfolding some 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) away from a command center at company headquarters in Houston.
The six-footed carbon fiber and titanium lander — towering 14 feet (4.3 meters) — carried six experiments for NASA. The space agency gave the company $118 million to build and fly the lander, part of its effort to commercialize lunar deliveries ahead of the planned return of astronauts in a few years.
Intuitive Machines’ entry is the latest in a series of landing attempts by countries and private outfits looking to explore the moon and, if possible, capitalize on it. Japan scored a lunar landing last month, joining earlier triumphs by Russia, U.S., China and India.
The U.S. bowed out of the lunar landscape in 1972 after NASA’s Apollo program put 12 astronauts on the surface . A Pittsburgh company, Astrobotic Technology, gave it a shot last month, but was derailed by a fuel leak that resulted in the lander plunging back through Earth’s atmosphere and burning up.
Intuitive Machines’ target was 186 miles (300 kilometers) shy of the south pole, around 80 degrees latitude and closer to the pole than any other spacecraft has come. The site is relatively flat, but surrounded by boulders, hills, cliffs and craters that could hold frozen water, a big part of the allure. The lander was programmed to pick, in real time, the safest spot near the so-called Malapert A crater.
The solar-powered lander was intended to operate for a week, until the long lunar night.
Besides NASA’s tech and navigation experiments, Intuitive Machines sold space on the lander to Columbia Sportswear to fly its newest insulating jacket fabric; sculptor Jeff Koons for 125 mini moon figurines; and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University for a set of cameras to capture pictures of the descending lander.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
veryGood! (41443)
Related
- Jamie Foxx reps say actor was hit in face by a glass at birthday dinner, needed stitches
- Rihanna Debuts Bright Pink Hair Ahead of 2024 Met Gala
- Krispy Kreme unveils new collection of mini-doughnuts for Mother's Day: See new flavors
- Belgian man arrested on suspicion of murdering his companion in 1994 after garden excavation turns up human remains
- Mets have visions of grandeur, and a dynasty, with Juan Soto as major catalyst
- Berkshire Hathaway has first annual meeting since death of longtime vice chairman Charlie Munger
- 'It was quite a show': Escaped zebra caught in Washington yard after 6 days on the run
- Calling All Sleeping Beauties: These Products Transform Your Skin Overnight
- Trump suggestion that Egypt, Jordan absorb Palestinians from Gaza draws rejections, confusion
- Canadian police made 3 arrests in slaying of Sikh separatist leader
Ranking
- Nevada attorney general revives 2020 fake electors case
- Investor Nuns’ Shareholder Resolutions Aim to Stop Wall Street Financing of Fossil Fuel Development on Indigenous Lands
- Turkey halts all trade with Israel as war with Hamas in Gaza claims more civilian lives
- Met Gala 2024 Red Carpet Fashion: See Every Look As the Stars Arrive
- As Trump Enters Office, a Ripe Oil and Gas Target Appears: An Alabama National Forest
- Detroit Tigers' City Connect uniforms hit the street with plenty of automotive connections
- Horoscopes Today, May 5, 2024
- Bus crash on Maryland highway leaves 1 dead, multiple injured: What to know
Recommendation
IRS recovers $4.7 billion in back taxes and braces for cuts with Trump and GOP in power
What to know about Trump strategist’s embrace of AI to help conservatives
When do NFL OTAs start? Team schedules for 2024 offseason training and workouts.
JoJo Siwa Reacts to SNL Impression of Her New Look
Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
5 years after federal suit, North Carolina voter ID trial set to begin
Police close pro-Palestinian encampment at USC; UCLA creates new campus safety office: Updates
Full transcript of Face the Nation, May 5, 2024