CNN —Remarkable new images from the Odysseus mission capture the spacecraft — the first US-made vehicle to make a soft touchdown on the moon in five decades — in the moments directly after its harrowing and historic touchdown on the lunar surface.
Intuitive Machines, the Houston-based company that developed the Odysseus lander, shared the photos at a news briefing Wednesday.
Mission controllers were celebrating the success, cheering “what a magnificent job that robust, lucky lander did all the way to the moon,” said Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus.
As of NASA and Intuitive Machines’ last news briefing on Friday, the state of spacecraft and all of its science instruments was not yet clear.
Many of the instruments on board Odysseus were designed to collect information as the spacecraft was in transit to the moon and during the crucial moments of descent toward the lunar surface.
Persons:
Odysseus, —, ”, Steve Altemus
Organizations:
CNN, NASA, Canadensys Aerospace
Locations:
Houston, Toronto