Mission Summary
IM-1 put the lander Odysseus on the Moon, the first U.S. soft landing since Apollo 17 in 1972 and the first ever by a privately built spacecraft. Launched February 15, 2024 by the Houston company Intuitive Machines under NASA’s commercial lunar program, it carried NASA instruments toward the Moon’s south polar region.
Odysseus touched down near the Malapert A crater on February 22, 2024, but came in faster than planned and caught a footpad, breaking part of its landing gear. The lander tipped over and came to rest at an angle, leaving some antennas pointed the wrong way and limiting how much data it could return.
Even on its side, Odysseus worked. It powered several NASA payloads and sent back data before the long lunar night fell and it lost power on February 28. The landing was a milestone for commercial spaceflight, proof that a private company could reach the surface, even if not flawlessly.
Sources and notes can be found on the Sources page.
