A week after fracturing a leg during touchdown and toppling over near the lunar south pole, the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon since Apollo became silent Thursday.
Odysseus, Intuitive Machines' lander, survived longer than expected after landing on its side with limited solar power and communication.
Flight controllers received one last photo from Odysseus and ordered its computer and power systems to standby. If it survives the very cold lunar night, the lander can wake up in two to three weeks.
Intuitive Machines spokesman Josh Marshall said these final actions depleted the lander's batteries and put Odysseus “down for a long nap.”
“Good night, Odie. We want to hear from you again,” the company said on X, formerly Twitter.Intuitive Machines dubbed Odysseus' response “a fitting farewell transmission.”
The lander was supposed to stay at the moon for a week.Intuitive Machines of Houston was the first private company to land Odysseus on the moon without crashing on Feb. 22.
Only five countries had done that since the 1960s, including Japan, which landed sideways last month.
Six NASA experiments were carried on Odysseus for $118 million. First business to participate in NASA's commercial lunar delivery program crashed its lander in January.
NASA considers private landers as scouts for astronauts arriving in a few years.Till Odysseus, Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt's 1972 Apollo 17 lunar landing was the last U.S.