The company reached the lunar surface in 2024, and now its second lander aims to improve on the feat. Three other spacecraft also hitched a ride on the SpaceX rocket.

SpaceX has successfully launched Intuitive Machines’ Athena lander toward the moon in the IM-2 mission. Watch the launch here.The Latest Tech News, Delivered to Your Inbox

SpaceX will try to launch an Intuitive Machines lunar lander this evening. Eight days later, Intuitive Machines will attempt to land its Nova-C lander, named Athena, on the moon. NASA paid Intuitive Machines nearly $50 million for this mission.

The next launch from Cape Canaveral is scheduled for February 26th, featuring a SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying Intuitive Machines' second lunar lander. A bright and cold Friday morning saw a SpaceX rocket lift off on the latest Starlink mission.

NASA will send Intuitive Machines lunar lander atop SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center. You can livestream on iPhone, Android, YouTube

IM-2 is part of a new wave of private lunar exploration. For example, Firefly Aerospace successfully put its Blue Ghost lander down in the Mare Crisium ("Sea of Crises") region of the moon's northern hemisphere just this past Sunday (March 2).

Intuitive Machines said on Thursday that its robotic Athena lander has landed on the moon's surface but details of the spacecraft's status and health remained unclear, a tense moment in the company's second such attempt.

The moon lander Athena made it to the lunar surface, but its condition was unclear as mission controllers rushed to understand its status.

The Intuitive Machines Athena lander appears to have touched down on the moon's surface, but the landing didn't go smoothly.

The commercially and privately constructed Athena spacecraft landed on the moon Thursday, the second such device to do so in a week.

The Houston-based company is poised to land its Athena spacecraft on the moon at 12:30 p.m. ET. The landing site closer to the lunar south pole than any human or vehicle has traveled before.