Space-exploration company Intuitive Machines Inc.’s historic moon mission has been delayed for 24 hours after SpaceX reported a technical issue prior to launch, which was scheduled for early Wednesday.
Intuitive Machines
LUNR,
shares, which are up three of the last four days, fell 7.6% in premarket trades Wednesday. The company is aiming to make history with the launch of its Nova-C commercial lunar lander.
If the IM-1 mission is successful, Nova-C will be the first commercial U.S. lunar lander to reach the moon’s surface. Last month, private U.S. space company Astrobotic Technology ended its troubled mission to place a lander on the moon.
Related: Intuitive Machines’ stock climbs ahead of historic moon mission
Shares of Intuitive Machines stock ended Friday’s session up 32.01% — their biggest daily percentage gain since April 26, 2023, when they rose 32.3%. The stock ended Tuesday’s session down 2.8%.
“Standing down from tonight’s attempt due to off-nominal methane temperatures prior to stepping into methane load. Now targeting Thursday, February 15 at 1:05 a.m. ET for Falcon 9’s launch of the @Int_Machines IM-1 mission from Florida,” tweeted SpaceX late Tuesday.
The launch window was initially scheduled for 12:57 a.m. Eastern time Wednesday.
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The mission is Intuitive Machines’ first lunar-landing attempt within NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, which is part of the Artemis program to eventually return U.S. astronauts to the moon.
The launch is timed for the monthly lunar-blackout period. Nova-C will land near the moon’s south pole, where the correct lighting conditions are available for only a few days each month.
The IM-1 mission will carry NASA science and technology instruments focusing on plume-surface interactions, space-weather and lunar-surface interactions, radio astronomy, precision-landing technologies and a communication and navigation node for future autonomous navigation technologies, according to the space agency.
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Commercial moon landings are considered important scouting missions for the Artemis program. Last month, NASA said it is now targeting September 2025 for its first crewed Artemis mission around the moon, and September 2026 for its Artemis mission to land astronauts near the lunar south pole.
Last month, Japan’s Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, or SLIM, successfully landed on the moon. However, the probe was upside down on the lunar surface in an image taken by SLIM’s rover.
Intuitive Machines’ shares have fallen 59.6% in the last 52 weeks, compared with the S&P 500 index’s
SPX
gain of 19.8%.
