NASA and SpaceX delay launch of Odyssey lunar module until Thursday

NASA and Elon Musk’s SpaceX decided on Tuesday to delay the launch of the spacecraft. Lunar module Nova-Scalled Odysseus, after recording anomalies in the methane loading process moments before takeoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida (USA). The Odyssey module will be launched by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Launch of a private company’s lunar module Intuitive machineswhich was scheduled for 12:57 this morning local time (5:57 GMT), will now launch at 1:05 am Thursday (6:05 GMT) from Kennedy Space Center.

Once launched, the module is expected to reach the lunar surface around February 22, which will be first American moon landing more than half a century later, that is, after Apollo 17 mission.

Scientific and commercial mission

Delayed start-up caused by insufficient methane temperature before loading is part of the project. Mission IM-1whose purpose is to create economic platform It will take NASA scientific instruments on the Moonin addition to commercial cargo.

This is the second mission under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, following an unsuccessful expedition in January. Peregrine falcon modulefrom company Astrobotic technologywhich was unable to land on the Moon, in particular due to problems with fuel supplies that prevented it from remaining in the orbit from which it had intended to reach the natural satellite, reports Efe.

Falcon 9 vertical at pad 39A in Florida ahead of launching the @Int_Machines IM-1 lander to the Moon tonight. Liftoff is targeted for 12:57 a.m. ET pic.twitter.com/KDnj0rMEhU

— SpaceX (@SpaceX) February 14, 2024

The module is designed to land in the Malapert Massif, about 300 kilometers from the moon’s south pole, an area full of “uncertainty,” according to NASA experts.

Researchers believe the area consists of lunar rock material similar to the Apollo 16 landing site.