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.
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.