NASA Sets Coverage of First US Uncrewed Commercial Moon Landing

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Feb 20, 2024, 19:32 ET

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of NASA's CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative and Artemis campaign, Intuitive Machines is targeting no earlier than 5:49 p.m. EST Thursday, Feb. 22, to land their Odysseus lunar lander near Malapert A in the South Pole region of the Moon.

Intuitive Machines is targeting Thursday, Feb. 22, for the landing of their Odysseus lunar lander on the surface of the Moon as part of NASA's CLPS initiative and Artemis campaign. Credits: Intuitive Machines

Live landing coverage will air on NASA+, NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website. NASA TV can be streamed on a variety of platforms, including social media. Coverage will include live streaming and blog updates beginning 4:15 p.m., as the landing milestones occur. Upon successful landing, Intuitive Machines and NASA will host a news conference to discuss the mission and science opportunities that lie ahead as the company begins lunar surface operations.

In May 2019, the agency awarded a task order for scientific payload delivery to Intuitive Machines. Odysseus launched at 1:05 a.m., Feb. 15, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA is working with several U.S. companies to deliver science and technology to the lunar surface through the agency's CLPS initiative. This pool of companies may bid on task orders for end-to-end delivery services, which includes payload integration and operations, launching from Earth, and landing on the surface of the Moon. NASA's CLPS contracts are indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts with a cumulative maximum contract value of $2.6 billion through 2028.

Through the Artemis campaign, commercial robotic deliveries will perform science experiments, test technologies, and demonstrate capabilities to help NASA explore the Moon in advance of Artemis Generation astronaut missions to the lunar surface, and ultimately crewed missions to Mars.

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