The lunar lander Odysseus will attempt to touch down at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time today (22:30 GMT), and you can watch it all happen via NASA’s live YouTube stream. Odysseus is a 14-foot tall landing module built by Intuitive Machines in Houston, TX. Intuitive’s Texas headquarters are located just three miles from NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and the company is in an ongoing partnership with the space agency to help re-establish the United States’ presence on the moon.
Odysseus has been orbiting the moon since yesterday and will touch down with twelve payloads aboard, each designed to carry out specific scientific experiments. Six are NASA projects, and six are commercial endeavors. Most are designed to take measurements or images to gather information for future Artemis missions, but Columbia Sportswear is testing its omni-heat thermal protection fabric on the lander’s propulsion tank, and artist Jeff Koons has created a translucent cube containing 125 steel sculptures of the moon honoring some of humankind’s greatest cultural and historical achievements.
