The first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon since the Apollo astronauts landed on the moon fell silent Thursday, a week after it broke a leg during landing and overturned near the moon’s south pole.
Intuitive Machines’ lander Odysseus lasted longer than the company expected after running into trouble with solar power and communications.
It was all over when flight controllers received the last picture of Odysseus and ordered its computers and power systems to go into standby. That way, if the lander can survive the frigid moonlit nights, it can wake up in two to three weeks.
Those final steps drained the lander’s batteries and left Odysseus “sleeping for a long time,” said Josh Marshall, a spokesman for Intuitive Machines.
“Good night, Odie. We hope to hear from you again,” the company said via X (formerly Twitter).
Before losing power, Odysseus sent back what the Intuition Machine called a “fitting farewell transmission.”
The photo, taken before landing, shows the lander’s base on the moon’s bumpy surface, with a tiny crescent of Earth and a small sun in the background.
The lander was originally planned to stay on the moon for about a week.
When Odysseus landed on February 22, Houston-based Intuitive Machines became the first private company to land a spacecraft on the moon without crashing. Only five countries have achieved this since the 1960s, including Japan, which landed sideways last month.
Odysseus conducted six experiments for NASA, which paid the agency $118 million. The first company to participate in NASA’s commercial lunar delivery program never landed on the moon; its lander crashed back to Earth in January.
NASA sees these private landers as scouts that will pave the way for astronauts arriving in the coming years.
Prior to “Odysseus,” the last U.S. moon landing was accomplished in 1972 by Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt of Apollo 17.
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