Private moon lander set for launch, 50 years after last Apollo mission

lander built by Houston-based aerospace company Intuitive Machines was set for launch early on Wednesday on a Nasa mission to conduct the first US lunar touchdown in more than a half century and the first by a privately owned vehicle.

The flight would represent the first controlled descent to the lunar surface by a US spacecraft since 1972 Plans call for Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C vehicle, a hexagonal cylinder with four legs, to reach its destination after about a weeklong flight as early as 22 February for a landing at crater Malapert A near the moon’s south pole.

By contrast, during the Apollo era, Nasa bought rockets and other technology from the private sector, but owned and operated them itself.Nasa announced last month that it was delaying its target date for a first crewed Artemis moon landing from 2025 to late 2026, while China has said it was aiming for 2030.

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