The lander, built by Intuitive Machines, touched down on the lunar surface at around 6:24 p.m. ET, overcoming a late-stage glitch with its onboard laser instruments.
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    10 months ago

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    A robotic spacecraft made history Thursday becoming the first privately built craft to touch down on the lunar surface, as well as the first American vehicle to accomplish the feat in more than 50 years.

    “Houston, Odysseus has found its new home,” the company’s Chief Technology Officer Tim Crain radioed back from mission control, as employees cheered and celebrated.

    Roughly an hour before landing, the company also scrambled to resolve a problem with laser instruments designed to help the spacecraft assess the lunar terrain and find a safe and hazard-free spot to touch down.

    The mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which the space agency set up to support development of moon landers by private-sector companies.

    NASA eventually plans to hire these companies to transport cargo and scientific instruments to the lunar surface as part of the agency’s broader ambitions to return astronauts to the moon.

    That spacecraft, built by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology, suffered a crippling malfunction shortly after launch that forced the company to scrap the entire mission.

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