Odysseus' landing attempt comes after a failed US mission last month
From CNN's Jackie Wattles
Astrobotic Technology shared this January 18 image of the Peregrine lunar lander in space. The Earth is visible (background), appearing as a crescent lit by the sun. From Astrobotic
The Odysseus lunar lander is aiming to make history on Thursday — but landing on the moon will be a dangerous feat.
If the landing fails, it will join a growing list of missions that have unsuccessfully sought a lunar touchdown. Last month, the first US-built lunar lander to launch in five decades, Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine, was hampered by a critical fuel leak. That came after two failed missions from other countries in 2023: one from Russia and another from a company based in Japan.
China, India and Japan are so far the only nations to have soft-landed vehicles on the moon in the 21st century.
12:00 p.m. ET, February 22, 2024
US is attempting to land on the moon for the first time in more than 50 years — for a fraction of the price
From CNN's Kristin Fisher and Jackie Wattles
A rendering shows Intuitive Machines IM-1 Nova-C lander on the moon. Intuitive Machines
A phone booth-size spacecraft called Odysseus, or IM-1, is set to take on a challenge no vehicle launched from the United States has attempted in more than 50 years: landing on the moon. The last time the US landed a spacecraft on the moon's surface was its robotic Surveyor 1 in 1966.
But the lunar landers of the 21st century, like Odysseus, are attempting to accomplish many of the same goals the US had during the space race at a small fraction of the price.
At the peak of the Apollo program, NASA’s budget comprised over 4% of all government spending. Today, the space agency’s budget is one-tenth the size, accounting for only 0.4% of all federal spending, even as it seeks to return American astronauts to the moon under the Artemis program.
NASA is attempting to drastically reduce prices by outsourcing the design of small, robotic spacecraft to the private sector through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, or CLPS. If the landing is successful, Odysseus will be the first commercial spacecraft ever to soft-land on the moon.
“We’re going a thousand times further than the International Space Station,” Intuitive Machines President and CEO Steve Altemus told CNN. “And then, on top of that, you set the target: Do it for $100 million when in the past it’s been done for billions of dollars.”
