This modern-day space photo has it all.
There are currently three landers, on three different exploration missions, en route to the moon. One of them, Intuitive Machines' Athena, just looked back home, and captured more than just a glorious view of Earth. Also in the frame is the SpaceX rocket stage that helped propel the lander into space, along with three other payloads released by the rocket.
Another way of looking at this scene: It's a NASA-funded private moon lander released into orbit by a private company's workhorse rocket on a space rideshare with other companies. This is the modern space exploration paradigm.
"After liftoff on Feb. 26, Athena established a stable attitude, solar charging, and radio communications contact with our mission operations center in Houston," Intuitive Machines, which previously had a hard lunar touchdown in 2024, posted on X.
"The lander is in excellent health, sending selfies, and preparing for a series of planned main engine firings to refine her trajectory ahead of lunar orbit insertion, planned on March 3. Intuitive Machines is targeting a lunar landing opportunity on March 6," the company added.
On the right side of the image is the Athena lander and four of its landing legs. On the bottom is the second stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, surrounded by three other payloads (smaller white dots). And beyond that, of course, is our cloud-covered planet.
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Intuitive Machines plans to land Athena in Mons Mouton, a lunar mountain near the moon's south pole. This southern region is rich in water ice, and is relatively close to where NASA intends to bring astronauts in mid-2027. "Intuitive Machines' IM-2 mission represents a significant leap forward in lunar exploration, ready to demonstrate water hunting infrastructure services on the Moon’s surface," the company explains on its website. The lander is equipped with a drill to investigate these south pole resources.
The mission is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which is comprised of robotic technical and science endeavors that support the crewed missions that will soon return to the moon.
Also currently en route to the moon is Firefly Aerospace's Blue Ghost lander, which the Texas-based company intends to land on March 2. The other craft is Japanese company ispace's Resilience lander, which will attempt landing in late spring.
There's certainly lots of enthusiasm about these moon endeavors. But landing on the moon remains daunting, largely because it's a world with virtually no atmosphere to slow spacecraft down. A craft must plummet to the surface almost perfectly, as thrusters fire to slow its descent onto a surface teeming with pits and craters.
