first U.S. soft landing on Moon in more than 50 years
WATCH LIVE: Engineers had to deal with navigation issues, but accomplished the first moon landing by an American spacecraft in 50 years. The Odysseus lunar lander is upright and starting to send data, according to Intuitive Machines.
(NASA) – NASA and Intuitive Machines will host a televised conference at 5 p.m. EST Friday, Feb. 23, to detail the Odysseus lander’s historic soft Moon landing.
With the last-minute assistance of a NASA precision landing technology, the first CLPS, or Commercial Lunar Payload Services, mission carrying the agency’s science and technology demonstrations successfully landed on the Moon at 6:23 p.m. on Feb. 22.
This mission is the first U.S. soft landing on the Moon in more than 50 years. Flight controllers are communicating and commanding the lander, which is solar charging and has good telemetry.
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Participants in the news conference include:
■ Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for Exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington
■ Prasun Desai, deputy associate administrator, Space Technology Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters
■ Steve Altemus, chief executive officer and co-founder, Intuitive Machines
■ Tim Crain, chief technology officer and co-founder, Intuitive Machines
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lunar lander lifted off from Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Florida’s Space Coast on February 15.
As part of NASA’s CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, Intuitive Machines’ first lunar mission will carry NASA science and commercial payloads to the Moon to study plume-surface interactions, space weather/lunar surface interactions, radio astronomy, precision landing technologies, and a communication and navigation node for future autonomous navigation technologies.
The news conference will air on NASA+, NASA Television, and the agency’s website.
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The post WATCH: NASA, Intuitive Machines Will Hold Televised Conference at 5 p.m. Today to Provide Odysseus Moon Lander Update appeared first on Space Coast Daily.