Jamie Cooper/SSPL via Getty Images
Class A shares of Intuitive Machines (NASDAQ:LUNR) on Thursday soared as much as 39.8%, after the company’s lunar lander successfully reached space aboard a SpaceX (SPACE) rocket and began its multi-day journey to the moon’s south pole.
LUNR stock was last up ~38% to $6.87 in afternoon trade.
As per the mission, Intuitive Machines (LUNR) is attempting to land a Nova-C class lunar lander, called Odysseus, at a crater named Malapert A near the south pole of the moon. If successful, if would be the first U.S. lunar touchdown in more than a half century and the first by a privately owned spacecraft.
The launch of the lander aboard SpaceX’s (SPACE) Falcon 9 rocket was initially scheduled for Tuesday, but it was then postponed due to temperature issues. The rocket finally lifted off successfully this morning at 0106 ET.
The “IM-1 mission Nova-C class lunar lander has launched on SpaceX’s (SPACE) Falcon 9 rocket and successfully commissioned in space by establishing a stable attitude, solar charging, and radio communications contact with the Company’s mission operations center in Houston,” Intuitive Machines (LUNR) said in a statement on Thursday.
SpaceX (SPACE) confirmed the deployment of the mission on X (formerly Twitter) at 0156 ET this morning, adding that the lander was beginning its multi-day journey to the moon’s south pole.
“Today’s mission to the Moon is just the first our Falcon fleet will launch for NASA’s (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) program which will help enable humanity to explore the Moon, Mars, and beyond, bringing us one step closer to making life multiplanetary,” SpaceX (SPACE) said.
The mission is an example of NASA’s strategy in recent years to increasingly use spacecraft and space equipment built by private companies in order to cut costs.