Second US attempt to return to the Moon in as many weeks

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MADRID, February 9 (EUROPE PRESS) –

Space X plans to launch The 14th of February from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the first lander built Intuitive machines headed towards the surface of the Moon.

This is the second US attempt in as many weeks to return to the Moon, so far with robotic missions, since the end of the Apollo program half a century ago. Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander launched on January 8, but the craft experienced a fuel loss. prevented him from reaching his destinationwhich was scheduled for February 23rd.

Both missions are part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which enters into contracts with private companies for the construction and launching of ships.

Intuitive Machines’ first flight, IM-1, will use the company’s Nova-C lunar lander and land on February 22 near the Moon’s South Pole. NASA reports this.

The flight will carry six NASA payloads. which will focus on plume-surface interactions, space weather-lunar surface interactions, radio astronomy, precision landing technologies, and a communications and navigation node for future autonomous navigation technologies.