by SpaceX will send a privately built lunar lander to the moon for the company Intuitive Machines on February 14, and if you want to know where and when it will take off, we’ve got you covered.
The so-called IM-1 mission will send Intuitive Machines’ first Nova-C spacecraft to the moon from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida launching before Valentine’s Day atop a Falcon 9 rocket. Liftoff is scheduled for 12:57 am EST (0557 GMT).
If successful, the Nova-C lander (named Odysseus by Intuitive Machines) is expected to arrive on the moon on February 22 to deliver experiments for NASA and commercial customers to the lunar surface under a $118 million contract with Commercial NASA’s Lunar. The payroll services program. Here’s how and when to watch it launch.
What time will SpaceX launch the lander IM-1 Odysseus?
Currently, SpaceX and Intuitive Machines plan to launch the Odysseus lander early Wednesday, February 14, from Pad 39A of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Liftoff is set for 12:57 am EST (0557 GMT).
SpaceX must launch the IM-1 mission during a three-day window this week, which opens on February 14, for the Odysseus lander to reach its landing day goal of February 22, NASA and Intuitive Machines officials said. SpaceX originally hoped to launch the mission in January, but had to delay the flight after several other SpaceX launch delays due to bad weather.
Can you watch SpaceX’s IM-1 moon launch online?
Yes, you’ll be able to watch SpaceX’s IM-1 launch for Intuitive Machines and NASA online for free in one of several live streams. Our guide on how to watch SpaceX launch the IM-1 lunar lander has everything you need to know.
NASA will provide a live stream of the launch beginning at 12:15 a.m. EST (0515 GMT) that will be broadcast on NASA TV, the agency’s NASA+ streaming channel and its website.
SpaceX will also provide a launch webcast on his X account (formerly Twitter), starting at least 15 minutes before liftoff.
Meanwhile, Intuitive Machines will host the same NASA webcast on its own IM-1 mission website during the launch webcast. Space.com will host a simulcast of the NASA webcast on our home page, at the top of this page and likely on our YouTube channel.
During the webcast, viewers will be able to see SpaceX’s final minutes of pre-launch preparation for the Falcon 9 rocket, which typically includes the final fueling for launch. About eight minutes after liftoff, the first stage of the Falcon 9 will return to Earth and land at SpaceX’s Landing Zone 1 at the nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, an event also anticipated in the webcast.
How long is the Odysseus IM-1 moon mission?
The IM-1 Intuitive Machines mission will send the Nova-C Odysseus lander to the moon on a 16 day mission if successful, it will mark the first ever private landing on the moon and the first US landing on the lunar surface since NASA’s Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
If SpaceX launches the Odysseus lander on time, the Intuitive Machines mission plan is requested a nine day trip to the moonafter which stay seven days on the lunar surface. Intuitive Machines aims to land the Odysseus spacecraft in Malapert A, a satellite crater of the nearly 43-mile-wide (69-kilometer) Malapert Crater near the moon’s south pole.
The mission will end when the two-week long lunar night begins, according to a mission overview.
It’s unclear how long NASA and SpaceX will stream the flight of the IM-1 mission after launch, but the webcast is expected to run at least through the landing of the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage eight minutes after the stream removed. SpaceX and NASA may choose to provide live coverage via spacecraft separation, so we’ll have to wait and see.
What if SpaceX can’t launch the IM-1 mission on time?
If SpaceX is unable to launch the IM-1 mission on February 14, the company will have at least two more chances this week, depending on the reason for the delay.
SpaceX, NASA and Intuitive Machines have a three-day window that includes launch opportunities on Feb. 14, Feb. 15 and Feb. 16 before SpaceX would have to stand down until sometime in March, according to Trent Martin, the lunar vice president. access for intuitive Machines. Regardless of which day IM-1 launches during this week’s window, the Odysseus lander would still be on target for the Feb. 22 lunar landing, Martin added.
“If we were to push into the March window, it’s also a three-day window, and we’re coordinating with SpaceX and that as well,” Martin told reporters in a Jan. 31 briefing.
Complicating the launch options for IM-1 is NASA’s Crew-8 astronaut mission, which SpaceX is also scheduled to launch from Pad 39A KSC this month. That mission, which will send four astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA on a Crew Dragon spacecraft, is scheduled to launch on February 22. That mission could be delayed if IM-1 doesn’t lift off in time.
“Currently, we are working towards the 22nd, and the possibility of going later depending on what happens with IM,” NASA associate administrator, Jim Free told reporters in a press conference February 5, referring to the Crew-8 mission.
