ORLANDO, Fla. — Intuitive Machines and NASA say they are in the final stages of preparations for the launch of that company’s first lunar lander mission, but exactly when the spacecraft will lift off remains unclear.
At a Jan. 31 briefing, officials from the agency and the company said they were working towards a mid-February launch of the IM-1 mission, carrying payloads from NASA through its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program as well as for commercial customers.
“In February, America will be taking another step for science and commerce on the surface of the moon,” said Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “Intuitive Machines is ready to launch their first mission.”
Trent Martin, vice president of space systems at Intuitive Machines, said the lunar lander, called Odysseus by the company, has been encapsulated within the payload fairing for its Falcon 9 rocket. However, he declined to give a specific date for the launch, saying only that there was a three-day launch period for the mission in mid-February.
“We work directly with SpaceX before we announce the exact launch date and time, so that will be announced here in the coming days,” he said. Any launch in that three-day period, he added, would set up a landing attempt on the moon Feb. 22. The company previously said IM-1 would take about a week to go from launch to a landing on the moon.
In a social media post Jan. 23, NASA said IM-1 would launch no earlier than Feb. 14, but the agency deleted the post hours later and replaced it one stating the launch would be as soon as mid-February. Other industry sources have also said the launch was planned for Feb. 14.
Adding to the confusion, NASA said in a separate statement Jan. 31, a few hours after the briefing, that the Crew-8 commercial crew mission by SpaceX was scheduled for launch as soon as Feb. 22. Both Crew-8 and IM-1 will launch from…
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