The first commercial Moon landing
A private spacecraft reaches the lunar surface, tips over, and keeps working.
- When
- Known to
- ± 12 hours
- Era
- Contemporary, Holocene
- Where
- Malapert A crater, Moon · 80.1300° S, 1.4400° W · Moon
Intuitive Machines' Odysseus touched down on 22 February 2024, the first American landing since Apollo 17 in 1972 and the first ever by a private company. A laser rangefinder had been left with its safety switch engaged, and the lander came down faster and sideways than intended, breaking a leg and toppling. Most instruments still returned data. It began a run of commercial lunar deliveries under NASA's CLPS programme.