First successful private moon landing

[Kyng]

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-00549-z

In a historic lunar accomplishment, the first private spacecraft to land successfully on the Moon touched down on 22 February. The spacecraft, named Odysseus and built by Intuitive Machines in Houston, Texas, also became the first US lunar lander since 1972, when the last crew of Apollo astronauts visited the Moon.

Odysseus offered up some nail-biting moments in the hours before landing, such as the malfunction of the laser rangefinders that were supposed to help guide its autonomous journey down to the lunar surface. Mission engineers had to upload a software patch to jury-rig it to use a secondary laser provided by NASA instead.

The exact state of the spacecraft remained unclear immediately after its landing, which occurred at 5:23 p.m. Houston time. But it was sending a faint signal back to mission control in Houston, indicating that at least some portion of it had survived the touchdown. “Odysseus has found its new home,” said mission director Tim Crain as the control room burst into cheers.

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Congratulations to the Odysseus team from Intuitive Machines! They aren't the first private organisation to have attempted this (a Japanese team tried it last year) - but they have succeeded where others failed .

How many more will we see?

[Kyng]

Apparently, this thing broke a leg on the way down, and is now lying on its side:


(Source: Intuitive Machines / Above article)

Fortunately, it's still able to do useful science in that state !

[ZandraJoi]

It'd be cool if in the near future we wouldn't need to be rich to go to outer space!

[Kyng]

It'd be cool if in the near future we wouldn't need to be rich to go to outer space!

It would indeed .

Of course, part of the reason why it's so expensive now is because: a) the technology is so new, and b) the spacecraft themselves can only accommodate a few people (so each individual has to pay an absolutely massive amount in order to make the trip financially worthwhile). Once it becomes more established and gets scaled up, I expect space travel will become a little more affordable, at least .