A Houston-based company’s planned launch of a spacecraft to the moon, aimed at becoming the first commercially built spacecraft to land on the moon, has been postponed.
The Intuitive Machines spacecraft, nicknamed Odysseus, was scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 12:57 a.m. ET on Wednesday. However, the launch was postponed because “the methane temperature before entering the methane load was outside nominal values,” according to NASA. Announced just before release.
The new launch date is scheduled for Thursday at 1:05 a.m. ET.
The lander will ride into orbit atop SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.
Odysseus was originally scheduled to spend eight days in space before landing on the moon on February 22nd. This event marks the first U.S. moon landing in more than 50 years.
Another company attempted to accomplish the same feat a month ago, but ultimately failed. The lander, built by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology, suffered a catastrophic fuel leak shortly after liftoff, forcing operators to abort the entire mission.
Astrobotic Technology and Intuitive Machines are part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Lander Services Program, which is designed to accelerate the development of lunar landers by private companies and ultimately help NASA deliver cargo to the lunar surface. The lander could also be used to transport scientific equipment.
On its next flight, the lander will carry a combination of commercial cargo and NASA scientific equipment.
Odysseus is expected to land near the moon’s south pole, an area that has long intrigued scientists because water ice is thought to be relatively abundant in craters. .
NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program is part of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon in the next few years. NASA recently announced delays for two upcoming Artemis missions, pushing back a lunar circumnavigation flight that was scheduled to launch later this year to 2025 and pushing back Artemis’ first landing attempt to next year.
NASA eventually hopes to begin regular missions to the moon and build a base camp there.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
