Intuitive Machines has successfully launched its IM-1 Nova-C class lunar lander on SpaceX’s Falcon 9, marking a significant step in space exploration. The mission, part of NASA’s CLPS initiative, aims to return the U.S. to the Moon and lay the foundation for future human missions. Credit: SpaceX
Intuitive Machines’ IM-1 mission, launched aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9, successfully commenced operations in space, aiming to mark the U.S.’s return to the lunar surface after 52 years as part of NASA’s Artemis program.
Intuitive Machines, a leading space exploration, infrastructure, and services company, has announced its IM-1 mission Nova-C class lunar lander has launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and successfully commissioned in space by establishing a stable attitude, solar charging, and radio communications contact with the Company’s mission operations center in Houston.
“We are keenly aware of the immense challenges that lie ahead,” said Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus. “However, it is precisely in facing these challenges head-on that we recognize the magnitude of the opportunity before us: to softly return the United States to the surface of the Moon for the first time in 52 years.”
Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander. Credit: Intuitive Machines
The IM-1 mission launched from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 1:05 a.m. EST, Thursday, February 15, 2024. It reached its intended orbit approximately 48 minutes later and established first communication with the lander at 1:59 a.m. EST.
The Intuitive Machines IM-1 mission is the Company’s first attempted lunar landing as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (“CLPS”) initiative, a key part of NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration efforts. The science and technology payloads sent to the Moon’s surface as part of CLPS intend to lay the foundation for human missions and a sustainable human presence on the lunar surface.
I will go for free. Just let me know I won’t do it for anything to go on to To mars