Moon Landing: On Thursday, a spaceship made by a company called Intuitive Machines landed near the South Pole of the moon. This was the first time in almost 50 years that a private company from the United States landed on the moon.

During a live broadcast from Intuitive Machines’ mission operations center in Houston, they announced that their robot lander, Odysseus, successfully touched down at around 6:23 pm EST. There were some tense moments during the landing because of a problem with the spacecraft’s navigation system. Engineers had to quickly find a solution to ensure the landing went smoothly.

After the landing, there was a period of radio silence as the spacecraft moved away from Earth. Mission control wasn’t sure about the status and location of the spacecraft until communication was restored.

Intuitive Machines’ mission director Tim Crain congratulated the team once they confirmed the landing, and NASA Administrator Bill Nelson praised the achievement, calling it a “triumph.”

This landing happened a day after the spacecraft entered lunar orbit and a week after its launch from Florida. Unfortunately, there wasn’t live video of the event.

Before this, the last time an American spacecraft landed on the moon was during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. Only a few other countries, like the former Soviet Union, China, India, and Japan, have successfully landed on the moon.

Odysseus is carrying scientific instruments and technology demos for NASA and other clients. These will help gather information about the lunar environment for future missions, including NASA’s planned return to the moon later this decade.

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