Mission accomplished: After more than 50 years, the American probe landed on the moon – Multimedia

The mission went as planned. “Your order has been delivered…to the moon.” This is how NASA celebrated the arrival of the Intuitive Machines probe to the moon at the end of yesterday.

“We can confirm without a shadow of a doubt that our equipment is on the surface of the moon and that we are broadcasting” a signal, confirmed one of the officials responsible for the Intuitive Machines mission, during the transmission that took place yesterday to monitor the final phase of the mission. Reaching the moon.

The goal of the mission in cooperation with NASA was to “stand” on the moon again, fifty years after the last moon landing promoted by the United States. This time the project is special and has been handed over to the unit Nova-C, built by Intuitive Machines and launched into space by SpaceX on February 15, after a failed first date on Valentine's Day.

The insertion into lunar orbit took place as scheduled on February 21six days after launch, and the first opportunity to reach lunar soil was scheduled for the afternoon of the 22nd, US time.

The time was not set but the lunar landing did not take place in the first scheduled window, forcing the probe to make another orbit around the moon, but at 17:24 on Thursday (23:24 in Lisbon), the time was set. Intuitive Machines confirmed that the Odysseus module landed near Malpert A crater, about 300 kilometers from the moon's south pole.

This is where he will stay for the next seven days, conducting a series of experiments, becoming inactive when night falls in this area and there is no longer any sunlight.

The team has already confirmed that the probe has landed correctly and is already transmitting data. There are no photographs yet, but Odysseus's first images of lunar soil are already being downloaded.

At 4.3 meters high – roughly the size of a giraffe – the vehicle has the capacity to carry around 130kg of cargo. In this NASA mission, it takes Instruments for scientific experiments and technological tests on the moonTaking into account the work of future Artemis mission crews on the moon.

See photos of the mission's launch to the moon

So far, only five countries have been able to reach lunar soil, but…The United States has not landed on the moon since 1972, when the Apollo program was completed. Last month, the Peregrine One mission also made an attempt. After a successful launch powered by United Launch Alliance's new Vulcan Centaur rocket, it began to lose steam within hours.

Although Astrobotic engineers tried to salvage the mission, Peregrine was unable to navigate towards the natural satellite Ten days after its launch, it caught fire upon entering the Earth's atmosphere.

Everything indicates that mission Intuitive machines It is on the right track to achieve its goals and more information and the first images will be released in the next few hours.

The Intuitive Machines team has already shared information and photos, With photographs and personal photos of the moment the module separated from SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, leaving planet Earth behind.

look at the pictures