Athena, a commercially built spacecraft that is loaded with cutting-edge technology and science experiments, has officially touched down on the moon—likely askew but functioning.
“We don’t believe we’re in the correct attitude on the surface of the moon—yet again,” said Intuitive Machines’ CEO Steve Altemus during a press conference held three and a half hours after the landing. “I can say, though, that we are charging [Athena’s batteries] on the surface…. We are communicating…. We can send commands to the vehicle.”
It may take another couple of days to lock down Athena’s exact positioning on the moon, officials said. But Athena is now indisputably operational on the lunar surface. It has joined Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost, another commercial lander that made its moonfall on Sunday—upping the tally of active U.S. lunar surface missions to two. The back-to-back feats are considered important precursors to future crewed missions to the moon under NASA’s ambitious Artemis program.
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Tensions had run high near the end of the live watch party for Athena’s landing, which ended abruptly without a conclusive declaration of the lander’s overall health. “We can confirm Athena is on the surface of the moon,” said Intuitive Machines’ communication director Josh Marshall, somewhat tersely, at around 12:52 P.M. EST—20 minutes after the intended touchdown time. “We are working to figure out the orientation of the vehicle, which is important because those are our antenna systems that will determine how much signal we’re going to have” to determine Athena’s exact orientation. Later NASA also confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) that Athena had touched down on the…
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