The Houston-based company's uncrewed Odysseus lander was almost lost to one of the tiniest possible mistakes. The view from the Intuitive Machines Odysseus lander as it descended to its landing site. Intuitive MachinesWith less than two hours to go before landing, Intuitive Machines engineers frantically whipped up a new navigation system. Indeed, several robotic moon landing attempts have crashed or otherwise malfunctioned in the last few years. Similarly, Intuitive Machines' success on Thursday shows that small errors don't necessarily have to spell the end of a mission.

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Persons: Steve Altemus, Trent Martin, Odysseus, Astrobotic —, Peregrine, Astrobotic Astrobotic, Astrobotic, Vikram, SpaceNews, Robert Braun, Kailasavadivoo Sivan, ispace, NASA's, Braun, Japan's Smart Lander, SLIM, LEV, Takara Tomy Organizations: US, Business, NASA, Reconnaissance, Goddard, Arizona State University, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, NASA's Goddard Space Flight, freefall, JAXA, Takara, Sony Group Corporation, Doshisha Locations: India, Japan, Houston