spacetoday.net: Intuitive Machines' first lunar lander ready for launch

Intuitive Machines' first lunar lander ready for launch

Posted: Sun, Oct 8, 2023, 11:10 AM ET (1510 GMT)
Intuitive Machines says its first lunar lander is ready to ship to the launch site. The company put the IM-1 lander on display at its Houston headquarters Tuesday after a pre-ship review that confirmed that the spacecraft is ready to go to the Kennedy Space Center. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch in mid-November on a Falcon 9 and would attempt a landing on the moon a week later. The spacecraft carries several NASA payloads through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program as well as variety of commercial payloads. Company executives said they were optimistic that the spacecraft would be able to land safety, but added they were not betting the company on a single mission.