AG百家乐在线官网

The Odysseus lander successfully touched down after a "nail-biting" descent.

Scientists back on Earth had to wait well past the expected touchdown time for confirmation there was a signal.

After a few tense minutes, applause and cheers erupted in the Houston control room.

One of the key aims of the IM-1 mission was to ensure safe-landing technologies worked, with NASA instruments measuring speed, distance and how much fuel was left in the tanks.

Now closer to the moon's south pole than any other craft, Odysseus will seek to determine if manned missions can communicate with Earth in the pole's extreme environments.

More NASA equipment is on board for contacting mission control, as well as navigation beacons dropped to help future missions.

Odysseus paves the way for IM-2, a second mission even deeper into the polar region, at the Shackleton Crater, aimed at finding ice.

Water would be able to hydrate astronauts and, by splitting the molecule, provide a source of oxygen to breathe and hydrogen that could be used as rocket fuel.

Together, the two missions ultimate goal is to create the conditions for NASA to send astronauts to the moon's south pole in 2026 under the Artemis programme.

This was the scene at Intuitive Machines HQ in Houston after teams heard the spacecraft had reached the moon's surface...

The condition of the Odysseus lander is still unclear due to the faint radio signal from the spacecraft.

Nonetheless, it marks a huge moment as the US achieves its first moon landing in over 50 years.

NASA administrator Bill Nelson has called the IM-1 mission a "triumph" and a "giant leap forward for all of humanity".

In a televised statement following the successful landing, he said: "Today for the first time in more than half a century the US has returned to the moon.

"For the first time in the history of humanity, an American company launched and led the voyage up there.

"Today is a day that shows the power and promise of NASA's commercial partnerships.

"Congratulations to everyone involved in this great and daring quest at Intuitive Machines, SpaceX and right here at NASA.

"What a triumph - Odysseus has taken the moon. This feat is a giant leap forward for all of humanity. Stay tuned."

Odysseus has successfully landed on the moon's surface, it has been confirmed.

It's a historic moment, marking the first US touchdown since 1972 and the first ever entirely by the private sector.

There were claps in the Houston control room as landing success was confirmed after a few tense minutes.

"We can confirm, without a doubt, that our equipment is on the surface of the moon," said mission director Tim Crain.

"Welcome to the moon," Intuitive Machines chief executive Steve Altemus said over the webcast.

The team had to wait for confirmation that there was a signal before celebrating.

We're hearing that the team in Houston have "signs of life" and are checking for a return signal.

The crew "still have time" to figure out what's going on with the spacecraft.

"We're not dead yet," jokes mission control.

We're still standing by for updates as the control room checks a "possible communications challenge" with the spacecraft.

A few minutes have elapsed since the expected time of landing.

Mission control have just called less than one minute to touchdown.

We're following along with the control room in Houston and there don't seem to be any major issues so far.

Teams are making callouts now and again on the progress of the lander.

There'll be a short delay before we know exactly what's happened - this could be "two to three minutes", NASA says.

By Thomas Moore, science correspondent

While many lunar landers use multiple jets that fire on and off, Odysseus has an engine that burns continuously and throttles the power.

At first the engine will be in a hard braking phase until it's about 2km from the landing site.

Then the spacecraft will tilt so its main engine and landing legs are facing the moon.

Close to the landing zone, cameras will search for a safe area to touch down with the slightest slope free of hazards.

At 30m above the chosen site it begins vertical descent that hopefully ends with a soft touchdown.

That should take 15 minutes 鈥� it's nearly down!