Intuitive Machines’ NOVA-C lander, Athena, touched down on the moon on March 6, but no cheers rang out from the NOVA Control flight control room in Houston.
Speaking at the post-landing press conference later that day, the company’s CEO, Steve Altemus, said that his team are still trying to find out exactly where it landed, and if it is standing properly upright on the surface, and they might not know for a couple of days.
After completing its 600-second descent burn from orbit to what would be the southernmost lunar landing ever attempted, a lunar plateau near the south pole called Mons Mouton, tensions remained high as data started to flow in creating a partial picture that suggested the lander could be tilted or on its side....
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