American Spacecraft Odysseus Makes History After Moon Landing Success

An American commercial lunar lander touched down on the moon Thursday, marking the first time the U.S. had landed on the surface in more than 50 years and the first time a privately-built built vehicle has made contact at all.

No American craft had landed on the moon since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, until Odysseus touched down in the South Pole region of the Moon late Thursday afternoon.

Built by Intuitive Machine, the Nova-C lander, nicknamed Odysseus, reached the lunar surface at approximately 6:23 p.m. ET, though a weak signal caused a glitch until flight controllers could gain better communication.

Read more at The Daily Beast.