About a month after the failure of a private moon landing mission, another attempt is planned for next week – on Valentine’s Day. If all goes according to plan, the “Nova-C” lander should land on Earth’s satellite eight days later.
The unmanned lunar lander ‘Nova-C’ from the American company Intuitive Machines will be launched into space from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, the American space agency NASA announced. A Falcon 9 rocket from the private space company SpaceX is planned for the flight.
The landing of “Nova-C” (pictured below) on Earth’s satellite is scheduled for February 22. If successful, it would be the US’s first moon landing in more than 50 years. Only in January did an attempt to land the moon landing module ‘Peregrine’ by the American company Astrobotic on the moon fail.
An attempt to land failed only in January
“Peregrine” was launched into space on January 8 on a rocket from the United Launch Alliance space joint venture. However, after separation from the rocket, an explosion occurred and the lunar module began to leak fuel. In mid-January, ‘Peregrine’ finally burned up in Earth’s atmosphere.
A soft moon landing is a major challenge. So far, only the US, the Soviet Union, China, India and most recently Japan have achieved this. No private company has yet succeeded in such an endeavor.
However, NASA wants to encourage the private sector to undertake missions to the moon as part of a broader strategy. The space organization paid the Houston, Texas-based company Intuitive Machines more than 100 million dollars (almost 93 million euros) for the mission.
NASA wants to send astronauts to the moon in 2026
The US achieved the first manned moon landing in 1969 with the ‘Apollo 11’ mission. The last human landing on the moon took place in 1972 with the American mission ‘Apollo 17’. NASA wants to return astronauts to the moon with its Artemis program in the coming years.
Source: Krone
I am an experienced and passionate journalist with a strong track record in news website reporting. I specialize in technology coverage, breaking stories on the latest developments and trends from around the world. Working for Today Times Live has given me the opportunity to write thought-provoking pieces that have caught the attention of many readers.
