After a flawless launch on Thursday, Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander is well on its way to the moon, but not before capturing some amazing photos of Earth when it was still relatively near to home. After stating that the spacecraft is “in excellent health” in a previous post, the corporation today released the first set of photos from the IM-1 mission on X. The SpaceX Falcon 9 second stage can be seen descending into the distance following separation, along with an image of Earth and a few partially taken selfies of the Nova-C lander, also known as Odysseus.
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
— Intuitive Machines (@Int_Machines) February 17, 2024
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.
