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The Odysseus spacecraft fell while landing on the Moon, but still sent back photographs from the far south, where no ship had landed before.
Built by Intuitive Machines in Houston, this unmanned spacecraft marked America’s return to the Moon after 50 years, a first for a private company. However, the American moon lander tilted because one of its legs got stuck during landing. However, a quick solution saved the mission.
“Odysseus continues to communicate with flight controllers at Nova Control from the lunar surface. After understanding the end-to-end communication requirements, Odysseus sent images of its vertical descent from the lunar surface to its Malapert A landing site, the most Far south. The vehicle is capable of landing on the Moon and establishing communications with ground controllers,” Intuitive Machines posted on X (formerly Twitter).
The post included two photos: one of the hexagon-shaped spacecraft landing, and another taken 35 seconds after its fall, which reveals the baked soil of the Malapert A impact crater.
During Odysseus’s landing on the Moon, special navigation systems found nine safe landing sites in the south pole area. That part of the Moon is always in shadow and there may be a lot of resources like water and ice. Intuitive Machines said this ice could help in future space travel and living on the Moon.
NASA’s Lunar Camera team revealed images that prove that the Odysseus spacecraft landed at a location at very high altitude at coordinates 80.13°S and 1.44°E. It traveled more than 6,00,000 miles and managed to land less than 1.5 km from where it was supposed to land near Malapert A due to a last-minute improvement in its laser guiding system.
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