Intuitive Machines Lander Lands Wonky on Moon, Mission Ends

Commercial moon missions with NASA connections are all the rage right now. Firefly Aerospace stuck the lunar landing of its Blue Ghost mission on March 2. Intuitive Machines hoped for a similar success with its IM-2 mission Thursday morning. The Athena lander made it to the moon's surface, but ended up on its side. By the time the landing livestream concluded on Thursday, Intuitive Machines had confirmed touchdown, but two big questions remained. Where did Athena land? What position is it in? On Friday, the company answered both. "We don't think we're in the correct attitude on the surface of the moon," Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said in an afternoon press conference on Thursday. Attitude refers to the orientation of the lander. "Images downlinked from Athena on the lunar surface confirmed that Athena was on her side," Intuitive Machines said in an update on Friday. Athena made adjustments during the landing to avoid hazards on the surface, which led to uncertainty about ... Read full article.