Intuitive Machines has become the first private company to make a landing on the Moon in the first unmanned lunar mission in over 50 years.
In a statement Friday morning, the Houston-based business confirmed its Odysseus robot was on the ground near the lunar south pole.
Hailed by 14th NASA Administrator Bill Nelson as a "triumph for humanity", the payload was delivered to the moon by one of Elon Musk's SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets.
Today, for the first time in half a century, America has returned to the Moon ????????.
On the eighth day of a quarter-million-mile voyage, @Int_Machines aced the landing of a lifetime.
What a triumph for humanity.
Odysseus has taken the Moon. pic.twitter.com/JwtCQmMS2K
— Bill Nelson (@SenBillNelson) February 23, 2024
“Today, for the first time in the history of humanity, a commercial company - an American company - launched and led the voyage up there,” Nelson added.
"What we can confirm, without a doubt, is our equipment is on the surface of the Moon and we are transmitting," flight director Tim Crain announced.
According to Intuitive Machines, Odysseus touched down at 23:23 GMT but there was some delay in confirming that due to problems establishing a communications link.
"After troubleshooting communications, flight controllers have confirmed Odysseus is upright and starting to send data," declared Intuitive Machines. "Right now, we are working to downlink the first images from the lunar surface.
NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, which this mission (called IM-1) is part of, aims to send astronauts back to the moon in 2026, 54 years after Gene Cernan became the eleventh human being to walk on the Moon in the Apollo 17 mission.
NASA is considering the same location for a possible manned mission to investigate whether there are deep ice craters and other scientific research including lunar dust, which was a major irritant to Apollo astronauts.
The US agency has six payloads on the vessel this time.
Other countries to have landed on the surface of the Moon include Russia, China, India and Japan.
Intuitive Machines' shares rocketed up 27% in pre-market Friday trades.