Goodnight, Odysseus. Intuitive Machines' private moon lander goes offline — but could it rise again?

A fisheye photo showing parts of a gold and silver lunar lander in the foreground, with the moon's gray dirt and the bright sun in the background.

A history-making private lander has closed its eyes on the moon — but perhaps not forever.

Houston-based company Intuitive Machines shut down its robotic Odysseus spacecraft on Thursday (Feb. 29) ahead of the onset of a long, cold lunar night. Seven days earlier, the solar-powered lander became the first-ever private spacecraft to touch down softly on the moon, and the first U.S. vehicle to do so since Apollo 17 achieved the feat in 1972.