An American probe landed on the moon, the first since the end of the Apollo program

This is a first for a private company. A probe from the American company Intuitive Machines landed on the moon on Thursday, February 22, marking the first landing of an American device in more than 50 years and the end of the Apollo program in 1972. The Nova-C lander, which specifically transports NASA. The scientific instruments took off from Florida last week. After about an hour of landing, the moon landed 5:23 pm Houston time (12:23 am Paris time), where the company’s control room is located.

“We can confirm without a doubt that our instruments are on the surface of the Moon, and we are transmitting” One clue, said Tim Crane, manager of Intuitive Machines. “For the first time in human history, a private company, an American company, traveled there and led it”Welcomed NASA chief Bill Nelson for his part.

A dangerous descent

However, the received signal was weak and the position of the lander was not immediately clear. The company then Confirmed on That the moon landing took place “standing up” and started “Send Data”. The descent was the most dreaded phase of the mission. The lasers that normally allow the device to be guided were not working, but a backup solution was able to be used: an instrument from NASA on board that was, originally, only to be tested during the mission.

The location the Intuitive machines were targeting is a crater called Malapert A, located about 300 kilometers from the moon’s south pole. The lunar south pole is interesting because there is water in the form of ice, which can be used. NASA wants to send its astronauts there from 2026 with its Artemis mission, and it is specifically to prepare them that it wants to study this still little-explored region more closely.