UPDATE:

The private lunar lander is expected to cease operations on Tuesday, after landing sideways near the south pole of the moon.

From AP: "Intuitive Machines, the Houston company that built and flew the spacecraft, said Monday it will continue to collect data until sunlight no longer shines on the solar panels. Based on the position of Earth and the moon, officials expect that to happen Tuesday morning. That’s two to three days short of what NASA and other customers had been counting on."

SUMMARY

It's the first U.S.-built spacecraft to land on the moon in more than 50 years, and the first ever by a private company. The Odysseus lander took off from Cape Canaveral last week and made it to the lunar surface on Thursday. The Houston-based company Intuitive Machines created the spacecraft and the trip is key to NASA's goal of returning to the moon with a manned mission.

View the transcript of the story.

News alternative: Check out recent segments from the NewsHour, and choose the story you’re most interested in watching. You can make a Google doc copy of discussion questions that work for any of the stories here.

WARM UP QUESTIONS

1. How long has it been since a U.S. spacecraft landed on the moon?
2. Where is Intuitive Machines based?
3. Why did Intuitive Machines send a spacecraft to the moon?
4. What are some challenges in attempting to land a unmanned spacecraft on the moon?
5. What are NASA's goals with this mission, according to Miles O'Brien?

FOCUS QUESTIONS

After watching this story, why do you think NASA has decided to support private companies to help achieve its goals rather than completely control each mission to space?

Media literacy: How could you find out more about NASA's private partners and how they are chosen?

Alternative: See, Think, Wonder: What did you notice? What did the story make you think? What would you want to find out more about?

FOR MORE

What students can do:

UPDATE: Odysseus spacecraft on its side, operations will cease: Conduct some research into why the spacecraft tipped over and its mission cut short: If you had any resources available to you, what design or feature would you add to the spacecraft to keep it from tipping? What would be some possible risks or downsides to your design?

Teachers: If you want to dig further into the spacecraft engineering and design and challenge your students to come up with a new approach to landing a spacecraft on the moon successfully, see this lesson.

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