Moon landing

The American private spacecraft "Odyssey", developed by the Texas-based company Intuitive Machines, successfully landed on the Moon, as reported by AFP.

According to Reuters, this event represents the first time in fifty years that the United States has landed on the Moon. The agency highlights that, notably, this lunar landing was accomplished using a privately owned spacecraft.

An American private lunar lander from Intuitive Machines was launched after a 24-hour delay due to fuel issues. The Nova-C Odysseus lander, developed by the spaceflight company Intuitive Machines (IM), could be the first private mission, known as IM-1, to successfully land undamaged on the lunar surface.

American companies will attempt to send a spacecraft to the Moon on February 14th, when Valentine's Day is celebrated in many places. This comes just a month after the failure of the first private mission, reported by the AFP. The mission will be carried out by a lunar lander belonging to the company "Intuitive Machines", based in Houston, Texas.

After a hiatus of over half a century, the United States is on the cusp of a historic return to the moon, scheduled for January 25, 2024, marking a paradigm shift in lunar exploration. This mission, however, diverges from the Cold War-era ventures, as a private company, Astrobotic from Pittsburgh, spearheads this lunar probe - heralding a monumental milestone if successful.

India began exploring the Moon's surface with a rover yesterday, a day after it became the first nation to land a craft near the largely unexplored lunar south pole.

Pragyan - "Wisdom" in Sanskrit - rolled out of the lander hours after the latest milestone in India's ambitious but cut-price space program sparked huge celebrations across the country.

India on Wednesday landed a spacecraft near the moon's south pole, an uncharted territory that scientists believe could hold vital reserves of frozen water and precious elements, as the country cements its growing prowess in space and technology.

Jeff Bezos' rocket company has won a NASA contract to land astronauts on the moon, two years after it lost out to SpaceX.

Blue Origin received a $3.4 billion contract to lead a team to develop a lunar lander named Blue Moon.
It will be used to transport astronauts to the lunar surface as early as 2029, following a pair of crew landings by Elon Musk's SpaceX.

South Korea's first-ever lunar orbiter Danuri has sent black-and-white photos of the Moon's surface and Earth, the national space center said yesterday. 

Danuri, a portmanteau of the Korean words for "Moon" and "enjoy," was launched on a SpaceX rocket from the United States in August 2022 and entered lunar orbit last month.

Astronomy experts say they originally misread the secrets of the night sky last month: It turns out that a rocket expected to crash into the Moon in early March was built by China, not SpaceX.

A rocket will indeed strike the lunar surface on March 4, but contrary to what had been announced, it was built not by Elon Musk's company, but by Beijing, experts now say.

Turkey has successfully passed the first test of its indigenous engine to be used in a rocket that will be sent to the Moon in 2023.

"We, as a country, have a mission to the Moon, and I think we will succeed the first leg of our long mission in 2023," said Mustafa Varank, the minister of industry and technology, on April 11.