View the live broadcast as the US attempts to successfully land on the moon for the first time in almost 40 years

Today is the day! Intuitive machines might be creating history in a few hours. They have the potential to be the first private business to achieve a soft landing on the moon. The company’s lander, called Odysseus (IM-1), was launched last week and is set to arrive on February 22 at 4:24 pm EST (9:24 pm UTC) inside Malapert A crater. This will be the closest landing yet near the moon’s south pole.

Impudent The crater is 69 kilometers (43 miles) in diameter and is located 300 kilometers (186 miles) from the South Pole. Chandrayaan-3 previously held the record for the southernmost landing, reaching around 600 kilometers (372.8 miles) from the South Pole in September. This location is very intriguing for potential human habitation on the moon because of the existence of water ice.

IM-1 is one of the several endeavors to reach the moon this year. The lander transports several NASA payloads, along with those from commercial firms and academic institutes. Several crucial experiments are anticipated to be conducted that might impact the future of human exploration of the Moon. The location in question is a prospective landing site for the next manned mission to the Moon. Artemis III is anticipated to occur in September 2026.

Intuitive Machines described Odysseus as a pioneering mission focused on establishing a commercial lunar economy by transporting commercial and NASA research payloads to facilitate a sustained human presence on and around the Moon.

If successful, this mission would be the first time a US spacecraft has landed on the Moon since 1972, when Apollo 17, with Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt on board, accomplished the feat. Success in moon landings is always dubious.

In the previous month, a commercial mission from the US failed without trying to land. The Peregrine Mission One by Astrobotic had a propellant leak, resulting in tumbling and preventing the appropriate orientation of its solar panels. Insufficient propulsion prevented it from escaping Earth’s orbit, causing it to re-enter the atmosphere and burn up.

Approaching the moon does not ensure a safe landing. Last summer, Russia’s Luna 25 probe crash-landed after undergoing extensive construction over several years. Two prior efforts on the private business side resulted in crash landings, one from Israel and one from a United Arab Emirates-Japan cooperation.

You may see the whole landing attempt on the live broadcast above or on NASA+.