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In February 14th, I wrote right here on TGP: “Odysseus units out on a harmful journey that’s bigger than life. No, we're not speaking about Ulysses, the mythological hero of the immortal Odyssey and the Iliad – however a couple of new American spacecraft setting out on a mission that's each bit as spectacular.
Tonight we will say: Landing. America has returned to the moon after half a century.
NBC Information reported:
“A robotic spacecraft made historical past Thursday, turning into the primary privately constructed spacecraft to the touch the floor of the Moon, in addition to the primary U.S. spacecraft to perform the feat in additional than 50 years.
The lander, constructed by Intuitive Machines, landed on the lunar floor at roughly 6:23 a.m. ET, overcoming last stage interference with its onboard laser devices. The probe is now the primary American spacecraft to land on the Moon because the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
Learn: House Odyssey: Nova-C lunar mission launches in Florida, on observe for first US moon touchdown in additional than half a century
The Nova-C lander, aka Odysseus, was launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, and spent six days on a 620,000-mile journey to the Moon, the Earth satellite tv for pc.
The touchdown time Thursday needed to be adjusted a number of occasions as intuitive machines corrected the spacecraft's orbit across the moon.
“Because it landed on the moon's floor, Odysseus focused a touchdown website close to a crater referred to as Malapert A, near the moon's south pole. The Moon's south polar area has lengthy been a topic of fascination for scientists. Water ice is considered comparatively ample within the area's completely shadowed craters.
Odysseus is carrying a mixture of business cargo and NASA science devices on its journey. It’s anticipated that the lander will take a couple of week to gather information on the Moon earlier than lunar night time arrives and the probe loses energy.
Your order has been delivered to the moon! @Int_Machines'The uncrewed lunar lander landed at 6:23 p.m. ET (2323 UTC), bringing NASA science to the lunar floor. These devices will put together us for future human exploration of the Moon #artemis, pic.twitter.com/sS0poiWxrU
– NASA (@NASA) 22 February 2024
The NOVA-C mission is a part of NASA's established Business Lunar Payload Companies program 'Supporting the event of Moon landers by non-public sector corporations',
“NASA plans to rent these corporations to hold cargo and scientific devices to the lunar floor as a part of the company's broader ambitions to return astronauts to the Moon.”
NASA awarded Intuitive Machines $118 million for the profitable and historic touchdown on the Moon.
Learn extra:
On the Moon: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi celebrates 'Fall of the Bastille' with France's Macron as Chandrayaan-3 mission takes off for lunar touchdown that might set up India as a serious area energy