Watch Odysseus attempt the first US Moon landing since 1972

Odysseus passing over the near side of the Moon after entering lunar orbit insertion on February 21st.

Image: Intuitive Machines

NASA and Intuitive Machines’ lunar vehicle Odysseus is expected to touch down on the Moon today at 6:24PM ET and become the first successful US Moon landing since 1972’s Apollo 17 mission.

Odysseus began its journey to the Moon on February 15th after it hitched a ride on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. It plans to land on the Moon’s south pole.

The mission, officially known as IM-1, carries scientific cargo to help NASA learn more about the Moon’s surface before NASA’s Artemis program brings people back to the Moon in 2025. It brings a laser retroreflector array to help other spacecraft make precision landings and a radio navigation beacon to provide geolocation data to landers, rovers, and eventually astronauts.

If Odysseus does land on...