First commercial spacecraft to land on the Moon

The first commercial spacecraft to land on the Moon is Odysseus, a 4.3-m-tall (14-ft) lander operated by American space-technology company Intuitive Machines. Odysseus landed in the Malapert-A crater close to the Lunar South Pole at around 23:24 UTC on 22 February 2024. Its mission, called IM-1, is the first successful test of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

The IM-1 mission launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA, at 06:05 UTC on 15 February 2024. After making various checks and tests in Earth orbit, it fired its Methane/Oxygen engine for the trans-lunar injection burn on 16 February, and arrived in lunar orbit on 21 February. The lander is expected to survive for around seven days before the end of the lunar day cuts power to its solar panels.

The IM-1 mission was rated as a success by NASA, but some have questioned this judgement as the landing did not go to plan. Odysseus touched down intact, but at a faster descent rate than intended, and with a higher lateral velocity. As a consequence, the relatively tall and narrow lander (roughly the dimensions of a phone-box) tipped over shortly after touchdown, coming to rest on its side. This has greatly reduced the strength of the lander's transmitters and may negatively affect some of the scientific payloads.