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First private Moon lander touches down on lunar surface to make history

After a nail-biting descent, the Odysseus spacecraft has landed near the lunar south pole and prepares to kick off a week of data gathering.
  1. Alexandra Witze
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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.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00549-z

Updates & Corrections

  • Update 23 February 2024: This story has been updated with information about Odysseus’s fuel.

  • Update 23 February 2024: This story has been updated with comment from an engineer not associated with the mission and with the status of the spacecraft on 23 February.

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