The first U.S. lunar lander since 1972 touches down on the moon

After a nail-biting descent, the United States took one small step back to the surface of the moon.

A spindly robotic lander named Odysseus — designed and built by a private U.S. company — touched down near the moon’s south pole at about 6:23 p.m. Eastern time. The probe, which is carrying six NASA payloads plus a few other odds and ends, is the first U.S. vehicle to perform a controlled descent to the lunar soil since Apollo 17 landed in 1972.