New Delhi: A commercial spaceship touched down near the moon's south pole, marking a milestone for space exploration efforts. The hexagon-shaped lander, named Odysseus, sent out a signal shortly after landing, affirming its successful touchdown on the lunar surface.

Intuitive Machines, the company spearheading the mission, confirmed the reception of the signal, albeit acknowledging the need for further refinement. Mission director Tim Crain stated, “We’re evaluating how we can refine that signal, but we can confirm, without a doubt, that our equipment is on the surface of the moon.”

The spaceship, funded by NASA and part of the uncrewed commercial robots program, aims to lay the groundwork for future human missions under the Artemis program, which seeks to establish sustainable lunar exploration.

In response to the achievement, the US space agency lauded the Intuitive Machines team, stating, "Congratulations, IM team, we'll see how much more we can get from that." NASA further emphasized the historic nature of the event with a social media post exclaiming, “Your order was delivered… to the Moon!”

According to NASA, Odysseus made its lunar touchdown at 6:23 pm ET (4:53 am IST), marking a crucial advancement in lunar exploration capabilities. This achievement follows India's successful landing of the Chandrayaan-3 lander Vikram in August 2023, making it the first country to achieve a soft landing on the moon's challenging south pole.