Intuitive Machines recently made history, being the first private US firm to ever put a lander on the Moon. It also set a new record for the furthest south landing which was able to establish communications with mission controllers on Earth. Now it has begun to send back images from the Moon.
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00:00 [Music]
00:03 Intuitive Machines recently made history,
00:06 being the first private firm to ever put a lander on the moon.
00:09 It also set a new record for the furthest south landing,
00:12 one that was able to establish communications with mission controllers on Earth.
00:16 However, the whole thing did not go off without a hitch,
00:19 as not only was there a guidance issue that had to be quick-fixed in mission,
00:22 but the lander landed like this, on its side.
00:25 Still, experts say that everything is operating as it should,
00:28 and its mission will continue.
00:30 Now the lander is sending back images from the lunar surface.
00:33 These are not only some of the first pictures that Odysseus has snapped
00:36 in the first days after its touchdown,
00:38 but other spacecraft have also snapped photos of the historic craft from afar,
00:43 showing where it came to rest.
00:44 Odysseus stands some 13 feet tall,
00:46 and will continue sending back data from the little studied area from which it now resides.
00:51 This is all part of a NASA-funded mission to further explore the moon
00:54 ahead of the upcoming Artemis missions.
00:56 Those will see humans board a spacecraft headed for the lunar surface
00:59 for the first time in over 50 years,
01:02 hoping to set up a moon base as an eventual jumping-off point to Mars.
01:07 NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology