Odysseus, the robotic moon lander launched last week by a private Houston company, successfully entered the moon's orbit Wednesday, and is scheduled to land Thursday at 5:30pm Eastern time—which, if successful, would be the first time in more than five decades that a US spacecraft has touched down on the moon (and the first time ever that a private spacecraft has made a soft landing on the lunar surface). Intuitive Machines, the company behind the 14-foot-tall Nova-C lander, said Wednesday that the spacecraft slowed itself enough that the moon's gravity pulled it into orbit 57 miles above the lunar surface, and the landing time was moved up by 19 minutes based on that orbit. Coverage, and details on how to watch:
- How to watch: NASA paid Intuitive Machines $118 million to deliver six payloads to the moon, and NASA TV is starting its streaming coverage of the IM-1 mission's landing attempt starting at 4pm Thursday, the New York Times reports. NASA has information on how to watch here. Intuitive Machines will also livestream the landing attempt on its website, reports Gizmodo (which has a link to NASA TV's livestream as well).