America, the superpower on earth, has a popular failure attached to its account. They have made as many achievements as possible in all fields, including space research. It was really disappointing to hear that America never got a soft landing on the Moon.
Not only NASA but none of their private companies also reached the lunar surface without some misfortune. NASA launched its last mission to the Moon, Apollo 17, in 1972 and suffered a tragic failure. After that, the agency never looked back to touching the lunar surface and did not even launch any program to do so.
Wait, we are talking about America; they never let go of anything, especially when it is difficult to succeed. And yes, in recent days, America landed on the moon successfully. It wasn’t NASA, but it was definitely America!
Who landed on the Lunar surface on behalf of America?
The simple answer is that Odysseus, the lunar lander designed by Texas-based Intuitive Machines, successfully landed on the lunar surface. Intuitive Machines landed near the lunar south pole on Friday this week.
Don’t be confused that it was a private project, and America has no credit for this historical success. America is consistently funding private firms in their Commercial Lunar Payload Services program to promote private firms. They fund companies to ferry different kinds of experiments to the Moon.
Intuitive Machines also got support from the nation to make such experiments. This time, the company succeeded in touching the Lunar surface without any major issues.
Major, are there any minor issues? Yes, there is some problem with the Odysseus lander.
The issue with the Odysseus Lander
The lander appears to have tilted and may have one of its legs broken while landing. However, it will be considered a soft landing, and its operational capabilities will be compromised a little bit.
Well, a Moon landing is never an easy task for any space agency, including America. This time, America landed on the Moon successfully. But they have failed many times as well. Not only the US but many space agencies have had failures in their mission moons.
For example;
- In April 2019, Israel failed in their mission to the Moon.
- In September 2019, India failed.
- In March 2023, Japan’s private agency faced a failure.
- In August 2023, a Russian lander was destroyed while landing on the lunar surface.
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