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After half-century absence, U.S. returns to moon as lunar lander Odysseus touches down:
America has returned to the moon after a 52-year absence. The unmanned Odysseus spacecraft touched down on the lunar surface shortly before 6:30 p.m. EST Thursday.
"We can confirm without a doubt that our equipment is on the surface and we are on the moon. Odysseus has found a new home," said Dr. Tim Crain, mission director of the IM-1, the first American private venture to send a module to the moon.
It's the first time the United States has had a new presence on the lunar surface since NASA's Apollo 11 in July 1969.
The Intuitive Machines Odysseus lunar lander, nicknamed "Odie" or "IM-1," settled on the moon's surface after a day's long trek but immediately began experiencing communication problems, preventing the transmission of data.
The general tone of this story here and elsewhere seems to be that this heralds a new era of a commercial space industry, but until one can show that there is any commercial value to being on the Moon besides directly supporting NASA/ESA/etc., is this a watershed moment, or is this just slightly expanding the potential NASA/ESA/etc. contractor pool? --hubie
Previously: Private US Moon Lander Successfully Launches 24 Hours After Flight Was Delayed
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday February 23 2024, @03:38PM (3 children)
I am not interested in knowing who people are or where they live. My interest starts and stops at our servers.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday February 23 2024, @04:16PM
I started to reply here, but then thought better of it.
I decided it might be more important to spread the word in this journal article. [soylentnews.org]
Don't put a mindless tool of corporations in the white house; vote ChatGPT for 2024!
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday February 23 2024, @04:19PM (1 child)
I change out my sigs very regularly.
I only worry that if SN were to disappear I have so many future sigs that would never see the light of day.
Thank goodness new keyboards are only about $4 at Micro Center in an aisle end cap basket.
Don't put a mindless tool of corporations in the white house; vote ChatGPT for 2024!
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday February 23 2024, @04:51PM