Deployment of Intuitive Machines Nova-C Moon Lander | SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch

Deployment of Intuitive Machines Nova-C Moon Lander | SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully deployed the Intuitive Machines Nova-C Moon lander to a lunar transfer orbit after launch from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on February 15, 2024, at 06:05 UTC (01:05am EST). The Nova-C lunar lander is expected to soft-land near the South Pole of the Moon on February 23, 2024.

If all goes well, IM-1 will become the first American spacecraft to set down softly on the Moon’s surface since the NASA Apollo 17 moon landing in 1972.

China's Chang'e 3 Mission, the first Chinese landing on the Moon in 2013, was the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon since the Soviet Union's Luna 24 in 1976.

In 2023, after the Chandrayaan-3 Lander successfully soft-landed on the Moon, India became the fourth country, after the United States, Russia and China, to accomplish this.

NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative allows NASA to send science investigations and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface. Under Artemis, NASA will study more of the Moon than ever before, and CLPS will demonstrate how NASA is working with commercial companies to achieve robotic lunar exploration.

Learn more about CLPS:

https://www.nasa.gov/content/commercial-lunar-payload-services

Video Credit: SpaceX/Intuitive Machines

Duration: 2 minutes, 36 seconds

Release Date: Feb. 15, 2024

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