Intuitive Machines' Odysseus mission is targeting touch down near the moon's south pole this week for a historic lunar landing.
The Nova-C lunar lander, named Odysseus, was built by the Houston-based company Intuitive Machines and launched to the moon atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Feb. 15 from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mission, known as IM-1, is scheduled to touchdown on the moon on Thursday (Feb. 22), at 5:49 p.m. EST (2249 GMT) in a region near the lunar south pole. If all goes according to plan, Intuitive Machines will be the first private company to reach the moon, and a successful descent will mark the first American soft lunar landing in over 50 years.
