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, Texas.
After completing its 600-second descent burn from orbit to what would be the southern-most lunar landing ever attempted, a lunar plateau near the south pole called Mons Mouton, tensions remained high as only a partial radio signal remained, leaving flight controllers to put pieces of data together.
Verbal confirmation of touchdown went out from mission control by around 12:35 p.m. NASA would confirm on social media platform X hours after the fact that the craft touched down on the moon at 12:30 p.m. ET….