First US Moon landing in over 50 yrs via private firm likely today: Details

US Moon landing updates: A smooth touchdown would be a big win for the United States to restart its lunar probe, more than 50 years after its Apollo program closed down in 1972

US Moon landing updates: US firm Intuitive Machines' private uncrewed Moon lander, 'Odysseus', could make history on Thursday by successfully landing on the lunar surface, marking the first such achievement by a private organisation.

"Odysseus' uncrewed Moon lander is targeted to touch down at the lunar South Pole at 2230 UTC on February 22," NASA said in a post on social media platform 'X' earlier today.

According to the space agency, the lander has completed lunar orbit insertion successfully and is currently orbiting the Moon. Odysseus continues to be in excellent health and is approximately 92 km from the Moon. NASA's update from Wednesday evening read.

US Moon touchdown in over 50 years

A smooth touchdown would be a big win for the United States to restart its lunar probe, more than 50 years after its Apollo program operations closed down in 1972.

All NASA instruments aboard the lander are healthy and operating as expected, the agency noted. The mission is part of a NASA program that is a step towards its plan to explore the lunar economy. The space agency has paid $118 million to Intuitive Machines to get its experiments on the Moon on this mission.

Intuitive Machines' IM-1 mission is the company's first mission through the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative. This initiative is aimed to foster collaboration between NASA and American companies to deliver payloads to the Moon's surface and lunar orbit.

Notably, the lunar south pole is a difficult terrain to land on. Last year, India became the first country in the world to place its Chandrayaan-3 near the South Pole and became the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon.