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A commercial spacecraft landed near the Moon’s south pole, but flight controllers were receiving a signal from the hexagonal-shaped Odysseus lander, the company behind the mission said.
“We’re evaluating how we can refine that signal,” said mission director Tim Crain of Intuitive Machines. “But we can confirm, without a doubt, that our team is on the surface of the moon.”
“Congratulations IM team, we’ll see how much more we can get out of this.”
The spacecraft, part of commercial unmanned robots funded by NASA, is intended to pave the way for future human exploration of the Moon under the Artemis program.
“Your order was delivered… to the Moon! “said the US space agency in a post on X.
NASA said Odysseus landed on the Moon at 6:23 pm ET (4:53 am IST).
The landing comes months after India became the first country to successfully land its spacecraft on the cold and treacherous south pole of the Moon. The Vikram Chandrayaan-3 lander safely reached the lunar surface in August 2023.
(This is breaking news…check back for updates)