Commercial US spaceship Odysseus lands on moon but transmitting weak signal

Commercial US spaceship Odysseus lands on moon, transmitting signal

A commercial spaceship landed near the moon's south pole but the flight controllers were receiving a signal from the hexagon-shaped lander Odysseus, the company behind the mission said.

This image provided by Intuitive Machines shows its Odysseus lunar lander over the near side of the moon following lunar orbit insertion on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024. (Intuitive Machines via AP)

“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 equipment is on the surface of the moon.”

“Congratulations, IM team, we'll see how much more we can get from that.”

The spaceship, which is part of NASA-funded, uncrewed commercial robots, is meant to pave the way for future human exploration of the Moon under the Artemis program.

“Your order was delivered… to the Moon! ” US space agency said in a post on X.

NASA said that Odysseus landed on the Moon at 6:23pm ET (4:53 am IST).

The landing comes months after India became the first country to successfully land its spacecraft on the moon's cold and treacherous south pole. Chandrayaan-3 lander Vikram safely reached the lunar surface in August 2023.

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