Intuitive Machines’ moon lander sent home its first images and they’re breathtaking<p>Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander is well on its way to the moon after launching without a hitch on Thursday, but it managed to snap a few incredible images of Earth while it was still close to home. The company shared the first batch of images from the IM-1 mission on <a data-i13n="elm:context_link;elmt:doNotAffiliate;cpos:1;pos:1" class="no-affiliate-link" href="
https://x.com/Int_Machines/status/1758899202174685589?s=20" data-original-link="
https://x.com/Int_Machines/status/1758899202174685589?s=20">X[/url] today after confirming in an earlier post that the spacecraft is “in excellent health.” Along with a view of Earth and some partial selfies of the Nova-C lander, nicknamed Odysseus, you can even see the SpaceX Falcon 9 second stage falling away in the distance after separation.</p>
<div id="be9c2cff0b094a0689314fed210f73ae"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Intuitive Machines successfully transmitted its first IM-1 mission images to Earth on February 16, 2024. The images were captured shortly after separation from
@SpaceX's second stage on Intuitive Machines’ first journey to the Moon under
@NASA's CLPS initiative.
pic.twitter.com/9LccL6q5tF</p>— Intuitive Machines (@Int_Machines)
February 17, 2024 </div>
<p>Odysseus is on track to make its moon landing attempt on February 22, and so far appears to be performing well. The team posted a series of updates on X at the end of the week confirming the lander has passed some key milestones ahead of its touchdown, including engine firing. This marked “the first-ever in-space ignition of a liquid methane and liquid oxygen engine,” according to Intuitive Machines.</p>
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Intuitive Machines’ moon lander sent home its first images and they’re breathtaking
