SpaceX will help private spacecraft to land on the moon for the first time: "Odysseus" heads to the moon on Valentine's Day

The American space exploration company SpaceX and Intuitive Machines announced that they will launch a private lunar exploration mission code-named IM-1 on Valentine's Day (February 14).It is reported that the mission is planned to send the robotic lunar module "Odysseus" developed by Intuitive Machine Company to the moon via SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Station in Florida at 12:57 a.m. Eastern Time on February 14 (05:57 GMT).

SpaceX stated,Odysseus will attempt to make history on February 22 when, if successful, it will become the first-ever private spacecraft to soft-land on the lunar surface.

This time Odysseus will carry 12 payloads, six of which are commercial payloads and six of which are NASA science instruments carried through the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program (CLPS).

The CLPS project aims to transport scientific instruments to the moon using private robotic spacecraft and will pave the way for NASA's Artemis program to return to the moon.