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.

Xfinity X1 customers can say “to the moon” into their voice remote to access live coverage of the landing and mission.

Intuitive Machines' second moon lander was launched on Wednesday atop a SpaceX rocket, setting off for the latest private U.S. moonshot one year after the company's first attempt ended early with a lopsided landing.

It was not until February 22, 2024, that another American-built spacecraft made a soft landing on the Moon. This was the Nova-C Odysseus lander built by Intuitive Machines. It landed, toppled over, but still completed most of its scientific experiments.