Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lander, the Odysseus spacecraft, successfully soft-landed on the moon's south pole on February 22, 2024, overcoming a late-stage technical glitch.

This event marks the first private lunar soft landing and the first American landing since 1972.

Approved by NASA, the 14ft-tall, six-legged lander carried both commercial cargo and NASA science instruments, aligning with the Commercial Lunar Payload Services contracts.

The successful mission of the robotic explorer paves the way for NASA's Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the moon and eventually to Mars.

Despite previous delays in the Artemis program due to technical issues, including a battery flaw, NASA plans for future manned missions to the moon's south pole.

The Odysseus mission signifies a new era of space exploration with private companies leading ambitious projects that were once solely the domain of government space agencies.