Reuters reported that this is part of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) mission to resume moon landings after a hiatus of more than half a century. This is also the first trip by a privately owned vehicle.
The Nova-C lander, dubbed Odysseus, is scheduled to lift off just before 1 a.m. local time, propelled by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Weather conditions are forecast to be 95 percent favorable.
Nova-C is expected to reach its destination after a flight lasting about seven days. At the earliest, the spacecraft will land in the Malapert A crater near the moon's south pole on February 22.
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched at Cape Canaveral, Florida on February 8
If successful, the flight, dubbed IM-1, would mark the first time a US spacecraft has reached the lunar surface since the final Apollo mission in 1972.
The feat would also mark the first landing on the lunar surface under NASA's Artemis program, and comes as the US is trying to return astronauts to Earth's natural satellite before China does the same.
The launch came a month after another private US company, Astrobotic Technology, suffered a leak in its engine system on its way to the moon shortly after being put into orbit, according to Space.com.
The failure of the Peregrine spacecraft, which was on a NASA mission, marked the third time a private company failed to "softly land" on the lunar surface, following attempts by companies from Israel and Japan.
These challenges illustrate the risks NASA faces as it relies more heavily on the commercial sector to realize its spaceflight goals.
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IM-1 is the latest experiment in a strategy of using privately built and owned spacecraft to cut costs. During the Apollo era, NASA purchased and operated rockets and other technology from non- government manufacturers.
Intuitive Machines' IM-2 mission is scheduled to land on the lunar south pole in 2024, followed by IM-3 later this year with several small exploration vehicles.
Last month, Japan became the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the moon, after its space agency JAXA "accurately" landed the SLIM probe.
Before Japan, four countries had succeeded in their efforts to conquer the moon, including the United States, the Soviet Union, China and India.
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