CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A private lunar lander carrying a drill, vacuum and other experiments for NASA touched down on the moon Sunday, the latest in a string of companies looking to kickstart business on Earth's celestial neighbor ahead of astronaut missions.
Intuitive Machines has reported the failure of its second lunar lander, Athena, a day after its landing on the Moon 's South Pole. The spacecraft tipped over after landing and subsequently lost power. Despite the setback, Intuitive Machines announced that several program and payload milestones were "accelerated" before the mission ended.