--- title: "The Private Moon Lander Has Safely Touched Down on the Moon" description: "Intuitive Machines is reporting that its NASA-funded Odysseus lunar lander has safely touched down on the Moon." date: "2024-02-22" modified: "2024-02-22" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/odysseus-lander" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Moon" - "Space" tags: - "intuitive machines" - "moon" - "NASA" - "the digest" --- # The Private Moon Lander Has Safely Touched Down on the Moon ![Intuitive Machines is reporting that its NASA-funded Odysseus lunar lander has safely touched down on the Moon.]() *\Image: NASA\* ## Land Ho! Intuitive Machines' NASA-funded lunar lander, Odysseus, [hit some issues]() during its final approach to the lunar surface: when the sensors it intended to use during its final approach failed, the team [opted to use]() an experimental NASA payload instead. But the gambit appears to have paid off: at about 6:38pm, the livestream reported that it was receiving a signal from the lander indicating that the lander had safely made it to the surface of the Moon. "I know this was a nail-biter, but we are on the on the surface, and we are transmitting," Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said on the [landing's livestream](). "Welcome to the Moon." ## Soft Landing The final step before making its final descent to the lunar surface was the lander's "powered descent," in which the craft fired up its engine for 11 minutes to slow its approach. After that, there was a nervewracking communications blackout as the team here on Earth waited for confirmation that the landing had been successful. "We're not dead yet," one flight controller [quipped]() amid the tension. The landing was significant, as the first commercial lunar lander in history — not to mention the United States' first landing on the Moon since 1972. As such, it was a major coup for NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services, which aims to pay private companies to shuttle equipment to the lunar surface. **More on the Moon:** [*Moon Lander Beams Back Dazzling Selfies With Earth*]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()