Milestone Achievement: US spacecraft ‘Odysseus’ touches down moon, breaks 50-year record

The first United States (US) spacecraft- Odysseus to land on the lunar surface in 50 years is being celebrated by the nation, even though it only managed to send a weak signal upon landing.

Flight controllers immediately took up the task of establishing better contact with the craft and were expecting the mission to proceed within the pre-determined parameters.

The company still has not announced the exact location of the lander but despite disturbed communication and instinctive machines, the craft managed to land on the surface of the moon successfully.

Further, the company immediately concluded its live webcast just after announcing and confirming the craft’s touchdown on the lunar surface.

The director of the mission- Tim Crain released his statement that his team is trying every possible thing to get in touch with their lander that was lost some time ago.

“But we can confirm, without a doubt, that our equipment is on the surface of the moon”, Crain added. He continued his statement on the instinctive machine and said, “I know this was a nail-bitter, but we are on the surface and we are transmitting. Welcome to the moon.”

This success achieved a milestone as the landing took place for the first time since NASA’s famed Apollo moonwalkers. Intuitive Machines became the first private business to perform a lunar landing, which is considered one of the five countries that achieved this success.

Initially, another company tried to give it a shot however, they failed to land on the moon and the craft crashed back to the Earth.

The company in the United States further added that while remaining in the orbit of the moon, Odysseus proceeded toward its surface and found a flat surface at the south pole and headed for a smooth landing.

Tension rose at the company’s Houston command centre after the timing of touchdown, as controllers waited for signals from the spacecraft some 250,000 miles (400,000 kilometers) away.  About 15 minutes later, the company announced that it would suddenly receive signals from the lander.

It is worth noting that the intuitive machine’s target was set to 186 miles from the South Pole, about 80 degrees latitude and closer to the Pole than any other spacecraft. As moon’s surface is not even, the site consisted of boulders, hills, rocks and potholes.

These potholes can log frozen water which is a larger part of the attraction. The lander was commanded to choose the safest location near the Malapert A crater for landing. The solar-powered lander was expected to operate for a week until the long lunar night.