The American company achieved the first successful moon landing by a private spacecraft last year. Now, it has sent a new mission to the south pole, carrying science instruments for NASA

Blue Ghost left Earth on 15 January, with the intention of exploring the Sea of Crises, and is the latest collaboration between US space agency Nasa and private companies.

Landing a spacecraft on the moon has long been a series of hits and misses. Last year, a spacecraft built by Intuitive Machines through a NASA-sponsored program put the U.S. back on the moon for the first time since the end of the Apollo program,

The space exploration firm is scheduled to launch its six-legged Nova-C moon lander, Athena, on Wednesday as part of NASA's $2.6 billion Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. Athena is scheduled to launch aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

This photo provided by NASA shows the Intuitive Machines' Athena lander approaching the surface of the moon on Thursday, March 6, 2025. (NASA via AP)

Shares of Intuitive Machines slumped to close 22% lower on Friday after the U.S. space exploration company confirmed that its second moon lander, Athena, landed on its side a day ago, similar to its first attempt last year.

Intuitive Machines' shares tumbled 34% in premarket trading on Friday after its second moon lander, Athena, appeared to have landed on its side, mirroring the company's first lunar landing attempt last year.

A Houston space company is slated to land on the Moon's surface Thursday. Why it matters: Private, unmanned Moon landings are ramping up ahead of NASA's plan to put humans on the lunar surface this decade.

The second moon landing attempt by Texas-based Intuitive Machines has ended much like the first, with its Athena lander falling sideways into a crater and shutting down after 12 hours.

Firefly’s Blue Ghost lunar spacecraft landed upright on the Moon–a first for a private company–and released amazing HD video of the moment.

NASA Friday rolled out the new Artemis II Orion spacecraft and twin Space Launch System solid rocket boosters that will carry astronauts in the first crewed Artemis mission around the moon.