The Athena lander, built by Texas-based company Intuitive Machines, could be the second commercial spacecraft to land on the moon this week.

Intuitive Machines sent final commands to its uncrewed Athena spacecraft on Thursday as it closed in on a landing spot near the moon's south pole, the company's second attempt to score a clean touchdown after making a lopsided landing last year.

History is set to be made on the Moon again this week, with Intuitive Machines' IM-2 mission Nova-C class lunar lander Athena scheduled to land there at 12:32pm ET on Thursday. The big picture: Intuitive Machines has partnered with Lunar Outpost to roll out the first commercial rover on the Moon and with Finnish multinational tech firm Nokia to deliver the first cellular network on Earth's only natural satellite.

The destination is Mons Mouton, one of NASA 's potential landing locations for its Artemis astronauts. Intuitive Machines ' Athena moon lander began circling the moon on March 3, just one day after a competitor, Firefly Aerospace, landed on the lunar surface without a hitch.

If all goes to plan, Intuitive Machines’ ‘Athena’ could be the third private lunar lander to successfully make moonfall, following its predecessor Odysseus and competitor Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost. [Courtesy: Intuitive Machines]

The lunar lander built by aerospace company Intuitive Machines launched Wednesday on an eight-day journey for its water-hunting mission on the moon.

Nasa's Athena moon lander, developed by Intuitive Machines, is set to land near the lunar south pole today, beginning a critical 10-day mission for the Artemis program. The lander will study lunar soil,