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Another attempt at first NASA moon landing in more than 50 years

Intuitive Machines is the latest commercial partner NASA has worked with to cut the costs of taking its equipment to the moon.

But its last partnership through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative did not go to plan.

Last month, a propellant leak caused Peregrine One to fail its moonshot and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere.

NASA said it was an “opportunity to learn”.

If the IM-1 succeeds where Peregrine One failed, it will be the US’s first moon landing in more than 50 years.

The history

The last moon landing mission by the United States was NASA’s December 1972 launch of Apollo 17.

It was the last time a human landed and walked on the moon, and came just three years after the historic Apollo 11 spaceflight which saw Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot there for the first time.

Six more lunar launches followed after Apollo 11, including Apollo 13, when an explosion on board forced the spacecraft to circle the moon without landing (you’ve probably seen the film), and Apollo 15, which was the first to carry a lunar rover.

Apollo 17 – the final mission – was iconic in its own way, with astronauts sending back a “Blue Marble” image of Earth which captured the awe of the cosmos and the fragility of our planet like never before.

NASA stopped its moon landing missions after 1972 due to the enormous cost.

SpaceX rocket Launch was postponed yesterday

The mission had been due to launch just before 6am yesterday but was put off due to “off-nominal methane temperatures”. 

It was postponed less than two hours before lift-off time. 

In a social media post announcing the news, SpaceX said it was “standing down from tonight’s attempt” because of irregular methane temperatures before loading. 

It’s not clear what the precise function of the methane is and its implications for the proper function of the rocket. 

The IM-1 has successfully lifted off and is now shooting into space. 

An expert from Kennedy Space Centre says that during ascent, the engines will tilt to turn the rocket horizontally. 

Launch going well so far

We’re getting some immediate commentary from tech experts who say SpaceX rocket launch appears to be going well. 

SpaceX is “pretty good at launching these days” as it does it several times a week, he says. 

A couple of minutes after lift-off, the two stages of the rocket separated.

The first stage will then come back down to Earth as the second containing the Odysseus rocket continues into orbit.

About 48 minutes after launch, the spacecraft will be released.

The cone at the top will “open up like a clam” to release the craft, Moore says.