Intuitive Machines has confirmed that the IM-1 Nova-C class lunar lander “Odysseus” touched down on the surface of the Moon today, sometime around 6:30 PM EST. The exact time of touchdown is not yet known, as the company has not yet downloaded and released data from the spacecraft.
The last lunar landing for an American spacecraft on the Moon was December 11th 1972. That was 51 years, 1 months and 26 days ago, which is 18,684 days. Today, Intuitive Machines and Odysseus ended that long gap.
Troubles On The Way Down
The landing was not without its issues, and some of those issues remain to be rectified at the time of this writing. First, there were LASER issues that forced a software patch and rerouting of signals for the autonomous landing system. Those were completed in the last two hours of lunar orbit, and according to live commentary from NASA-TV, the fix worked satisfactorily during the final descent to the surface.
Then after the expected landing time, a longer period of uncertainty than expected about Odysseus’s fate occurred because of what was an initial loss of radio communications between the lander and mission control in Houston.
Graphic courtesy Intuitive Machines
Uncertainty After Landing
Flight controllers reassessed the last data they received from Odysseus, and found an unexpected 8-degree roll from the spacecraft, leading many viewers to fear the worst. IM engineers and flight controllers continued working the problem, and at one point, Intuitive Machines CTO Tim Crain announced “”We’re not dead yet!”
Not long afterwards, Crain gave some welcome news when he said, “We do have signal that we’re tracking.” That meant that Odysseus was on the lunar surface and that it was transmitting, a good sign that the landing was successful enough for the spacecraft to attempt to communicate with Earth. Crain added moments later “We have a signal from our high-gain antenna. It’s faint but it’s there.”
Then, after what must have seemed like an eternity to Intuitive Machines employees, Crain clarified by saying “We can confirm without a doubt that we are on the surface of the moon and that we are transmitting.”
Finally, the announcement everyone was waiting for: “Houston, Odysseus has found his new home.”
At 8:25 PM EST, Intuitive Machines released the news everyone who had lingering doubts was waiting to hear:
“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.”
Intuitive Machines on X, February 22, 2024
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson commented after the landing that “Today, for the first time in half a century, America has returned to the Moon. On the eighth day of a quarter-million-mile voyage, Intuitive Machines aced the landing of a lifetime. What a feat for IM, SpaceX and NASA.
“What a triumph for humanity.Odysseus has taken the Moon.”
Indeed.
What’s Up Next?
IM and its team will no doubt be working diligently to assess Odysseus’s health and begin the slate of experiments planned for the mission.
After that, hopefully we will see photographs and video from Odysseus, including the Embry-Riddle EagleCam, which was ejected from the descending lander and providing the first-ever third-party view of an extraterrestrial spacecraft landing.
