NASA News – A Commercial Lander Touches Down on The Moon

NASA News – A Commercial Lander Touches Down on The Moon

• A commercial lander touches down on the Moon.
• Discussing the science on the space station.
• And preparing for the next space station crew rotation mission.

A few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!

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On Feb. 22, Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lunar lander touched down near the South Pole of the Moon – marking the first lunar landing as part of NASA’s CLPS initiative and Artemis campaign.

Intuitive Machines is one of several U.S. companies NASA is working with to deliver science experiments and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface to help the agency explore the Moon in advance of Artemis astronaut missions to the lunar surface, and ultimately crewed missions to Mars.

During an Earth-to-space call on Feb. 21, NASA leadership talked with the crew aboard the International Space Station about scientific research and technology demonstrations taking place on the orbiting laboratory. This included research that could improve our understanding of what leads to age-related bone loss in humans, and a small robot that can be remotely controlled from Earth to perform surgical procedures in space. Learn more about science on the space station at nasa.gov/station.

The members of our upcoming SpaceX Crew-8 mission to the International Space Station entered quarantine recently – one of the last major milestones before heading to Florida for final prelaunch activities. The crew, including NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick,  Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, will perform research, technology demonstrations, and maintenance during their stay aboard the space station Launch is currently targeted for no earlier than March 1 from our Kennedy Space Center.

All the major structures that will form the core stage of the Space Launch System, or SLS rocket for our Artemis III mission are structurally complete. Technicians at our Michoud Assembly Facility recently finished welding the 51-foot liquid oxygen tank structure. The mega rocket’s other giant propellant tank – the liquid hydrogen tank – is also a fully welded structure. Both tanks will be a part of the rocket used for the first of the Artemis missions planning to land astronauts on the Moon’s surface near the lunar South Pole.

That’s what’s up this week @NASA. For more about what else we’re up to, check out nasa.gov.