Lunar Lander 'Odysseus' Sends First Images From Space on Private Company Mission to the Moon

Amid its maiden voyage, a robotic moon lander launched by private space exploration company Intuitive Machines beamed home its first images.

The Earth shines in the background of the cosmic selfies, showcasing the distance the “Odysseus” spacecraft has traveled since it was launched into space on Thursday, February 15, Knewz.com has discovered.

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Odysseus was hurled into space aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket with the ultimate goal of reaching the moon’s surface, a first for a private U.S. company, and the first American landing in more than 50 years.

“Odysseus continues to be in excellent health,” the company said Monday, February 19 in a post on X, two days after announcing the successful transmission of the lunar lander’s first IM-1 mission images to Earth in another post.

The photos were captured on Friday, February 16 shortly after Odysseus separated from SpaceX ‘s second stage, according to Intuitive Machines.

The lander’s “wide and narrow field of view cameras” were programmed to snap five “quick images” every five minutes for two hours, starting 100 seconds after separation.

“Out of all the images collected, Intuitive Machines chose to show humanity’s place in the universe with four wonderful images we hope to inspire the next generation of risk-takers,” the company said.

The moon lander launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket on Thursday, February 15. By: X/@int_Machines

Flight controllers have been “preparing trajectory correction maneuvers” to ready the lander for lunar orbit insertion, which Intuitive Machines called “Odysseus’ largest challenge to date.”

The spacecraft is expected to execute lunar orbit insertion on Wednesday, February 21, with a landing on the moon’s surface anticipated the following day.

According to NASA, Odysseus is scheduled to land near “Malapert A,” a lunar feature in a relatively flat and safe region of the South Pole.

Its instruments will gather scientific information for about seven days, which NASA said will “help mission planners understand how to communicate and send data back to Earth from a location where Earth is low on the lunar horizon.”

Odysseus is expected to reach the lunar surface on Thursday, February 22. By: X/@int_Machines

The lander launched aboard Falcon 9, as Knewz.com reported, under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which contracts with commercial companies to deliver payloads to the moon under the Artemis program. The goal of Artemis is to establish a long-term human presence on the lunar surface.

Odysseus’s current M-1 mission is carrying six private payloads as well as six NASA experiments and technology demonstrations, according to Space.com.

Since its launch, engineers “have been learning more about the lander and how to fly the mission to return the United States to the surface of the Moon,” Intuitive Machines said.

The company said it planned to issue daily updates on its X and IM-1 Mission web pages, where it will also live-stream landing coverage.

Intuitive Machines successfully transmitted its first IM-1 mission images to Earth on February 16, 2024. The images were captured shortly after separation from @SpaceX's second stage on Intuitive Machines’ first journey to the Moon under @NASA's CLPS initiative. pic.twitter.com/9LccL6q5tF

— Intuitive Machines (@Int_Machines) February 17, 2024