space travel
The rocket with the commercial lunar lander Nova-C from the American company Intuitive Machines was launched after a delay from Cape Canaveral in the American state of Florida. With the help of Space X. The intention is for Nova-C to successfully land on the moon’s surface on February 22.
Images from the American space agency NASA show that the rocket was launched on Thursday. This was done with the help of the Falcon 9 rocket from Space X, the space company of billionaire Elon Musk. The launch was postponed from Wednesday to Thursday for technical reasons. The temperatures of the methane fuel had deviated from the standard, NASA said in a statement.
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After several failed attempts, Intuitive Machines is looking to tackle the goal of its first commercial landing. It would be the first – albeit unmanned – American moon landing since the Apollo missions more than fifty years ago and the first commercial landing on the moon in the history of space travel. So far, only government organizations have succeeded.
Private players
The project is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS). With this program, the space agency wants to collect as much knowledge as possible relatively cheaply and efficiently on its own path to the moon by entering into contracts with private companies and collaborating with them.
The Nova-C, nicknamed Odysseus, is about the same size as a traditional British telephone booth, has aluminum legs, weighs about 700 kilograms and can carry a payload of about 130 kilograms. A large part of this is NASA research material, while another part is taken up by the projects of commercial companies.
The lunar lander will conduct research at a crater on the moon. Astronauts may also be sent there in the future. The last time humans walked on the moon was about half a century ago in 1972.
