A private lunar lander has made its way to the moon's surface on Thursday, but there's a bit of a nail-biter as flight controllers are left scratching their heads, unable to confirm the status of the lander or if it's even standing up straight by the south pole.

NASA and AstroForge missions prove Space is Hard Engineers are continuing to attempt to make contact with NASA's stricken Lunar Trailblazer probe as hopes for the science planned for the mission begin to fade.

Intuitive Machines' Athena moon lander is "alive," but it's not yet known what mission objectives can still be met.

Odin, on an asteroid flyby mission that will mark the company’s first attempt to scout for platinum in space. The probe is set to lift off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on February 26. AstroForge’s ...

"I think we all know the hope is fading as we continue the mission," AstroForge founder Matt Gialich said in a video update on X early Saturday (March 1). "So we're going to keep our head up. We're going to keep trying over the weekend, and we'll see how far we get."

Athena, the private lunar lander from Intuitive Machines, missed its mark while landing on the moon Thursday and ended up sideways in a frigid crater. It did, however, manage to send back pictures confirming its position and activate a few experiments before going silent.

The first commercial spacecraft headed beyond the moon is on its way to deep space, but the mission is suffering from unknown issues as the team scrambles to get in contact with the probe.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A privately owned lunar lander touched down on the moon with a drill, drone and rovers for NASA and other customers Thursday, but quickly ran into trouble and may have fallen over.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A privately owned lunar lander touched down on the moon Thursday, but as the minutes dragged on, flight controllers could not confirm its condition or whether it was even upright near the south pole.

A day later, however, NASA shared that mission operators had lost communication with the spacecraft in the wee hours of morning. Lunar Trailblazer had reportedly transmitted telemetry data indicating intermittent power system issues shortly before the communication disruption.

Two of them — NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer and AstroForge’s asteroid-chasing Odin — are in jeopardy. NASA said this week that Lunar Trailblazer is spinning without radio contact and won’t ...