Key Takeaways
Shares of Intuitive Machines ( LUNR ) rose on Thursday after its latest lunar lander mission successfully launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on Wednesday night.
The space exploration company said last week that its lunar lander, Athena, was prepared for launch on the rocket. The mission will include the Athena lander touching down on the moon with data-gathering equipment as the second mission as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.
"NASA is leveraging American companies to send scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to the Moon, advancing our understanding of the Moon and planetary processes, while paving the way for future crewed missions," Intuitive Machines said last month. "Athena’s mission is designed to validate resource prospecting, mobility, and communications infrastructure in the Moon’s Mons Mouton region, one of nine potential Artemis III landing sites."
Intuitive Machines became the first commercial company ever to put a lander on the moon roughly a year ago, marking the first U.S. return to the moon since the Apollo missions.
In the months since, the company has received several contracts from NASA for missions related to the moon and other space exploration projects.
Shares of the space exploration company were up more than 4% Thursday morning, after a 7% gain ahead of the launch Wednesday put them up 163% over the last 12 months.
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