America's Odysseus spacecraft makes first commercial moon landing in historyWith this, Intuitive Machines (IM) -- the commercial venture behind the Nova-C lander -- has become the first private venture to carry out a successful landing on the lunar surface. This marks the first American soft landing on the lunar surface since the Apollo era in 1972. India made a soft landing on the lunar South Pole with a robotic vehicle for the first time in the 21st century. The US remains the only country to have put humans on the lunar surface, most recently in 1972 with the Apollo 17 mission. NASA wants to scout the lunar south pole because the space agency believes it's the best location to set up a future astronaut base.

Source: dna February 23, 2024 02:37 UTC