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US company Intuitive Machines' first lunar lander touched down on the moon early Friday morning, marking the first American spacecraft to land on the lunar surface in more than 50 years.The uncrewed lander, named Odysseus, landed at the lunar ...

Read Latest Technology News Quickly Here | Intuitive Machines' first lunar lander touched down on the moon early Friday morning, marking the first American spacecraft to land on the lunar surface in more than 50 years.

The spacecraft will focus on collecting data on space weather interactions with the moon’s surface, radio astronomy and other aspects of the lunar environment for future landers.

At 6:23 p.m. New York time Thursday, Intuitive Machines Inc. landed a robotic spacecraft on the moon, becoming the first private firm to place a vehicle intact on the lunar surface.

Odysseus will pave the way for American astronauts to return to Earth's neighbour later this decade. Odysseus touched down near the lunar south pole Thursday at 2323 GMT. It was a nail-biting final descent as flight controllers had to switch to an experimental landing system and took several minutes to establish radio contact with the lander after it came to rest.

NASA, with several research instruments aboard the vehicle, hailed the landing as a major achievement in its goal of sending a squad of commercially flown spacecraft on scientific scouting missions to the moon ahead of a planned return of astronauts there later this decade

Commercial US spaceship hours from attempted Moon landing

Intuitive Machines' Odysseus lander became the first commercial spacecraft to survive a trip to the moon's surface — but in what condition?

For the first time since 1972, the US is back on the moon. A harsh environment, a lack of experienced lunar engineers and the need for precise last-minute adjustments added to the challenges.

The Odysseus mission marks the first controlled descent to the moons surface by a US spaceship since Apollo 17 in 1972