Intuitive Machines IM-2 Commercial Moon Mission Launch from Kennedy Space Center Set Feb. 24

prelaunch events starting Tuesday, February 25

BREVARD COUNTY • FLORIDA — Carrying NASA science and technology to the Moon as part of the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative and Artemis campaign, the Intuitive Machines IM-2 mission is targeted to launch no earlier than Wednesday, February 26.

The mission will lift off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Live launch coverage will air on NASA+, with prelaunch events starting Tuesday, February 25.

After the launch, Intuitive Machines’ lunar lander, Athena, will spend approximately one week in transit to the Moon before landing on the lunar surface no earlier than Thursday, March 6.

The lander will carry NASA science investigations and technology demonstrations to further our understanding of the Moon’s environment and help prepare for future human missions to the lunar surface as part of the agency’s Moon to Mars exploration approach.

Among the items on Intuitive Machines’ lander, the IM-2 mission will be one of the first on-site demonstrations of resource use on the Moon. A drill and mass spectrometer will measure the potential presence of volatiles or gases from lunar soil in Mons Mouton, a lunar plateau in the Moon’s South Pole.

 

In addition, a passive Laser Retroreflector Array on the top deck of the lander will bounce laser light back at any orbiting or incoming spacecraft to give future spacecraft a permanent reference point on the lunar surface. Other technology instruments on this delivery will demonstrate a robust surface communications system and deploy a propulsive drone that can hop across the lunar surface.

Launching as a rideshare with the IM-2 delivery, NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft also will begin its journey to lunar orbit, where it will map the distribution of the different forms of water on the Moon.

The deadline has passed for media accreditation for in-person coverage of this launch. The agency’s media accreditation policy is available online. More information about media accreditation is available by emailing: ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov.

Full coverage of this mission is as follows:

Tuesday, February 25

11 a.m. – Lunar science and technology media teleconference with the following participants:

● Joel Kearns, deputy associate administrator for exploration, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
● Niki Werkheiser, director, technology maturation, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
● Jackie Quinn, Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment 1 (PRIME-1) project manager, NASA Kennedy
● Daniel Cremons, LRA deputy principal investigator, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
● Bethany Ehlmann, Lunar Trailblazer principal investigator, Caltech
● Trent Martin, senior vice president, space systems, Intuitive Machines
● Thierry Klein, president, Bell Labs Solution Research, Nokia

Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website HERE.

Wednesday, February 26

11:30 a.m. – Lunar delivery readiness media teleconference with the following participants:

● Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
● Clayton Turner, associate administrator, Space Technology Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters
● Trent Martin, senior vice president, space systems, Intuitive Machines
● William Gerstenmaier, vice president, build and flight reliability, SpaceX
● Melody Lovin, launch weather officer, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s 45th Weather Squadron

Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agency’s website HERE

Launch coverage will begin on NASA+ approximately 45 minutes before liftoff. A specific time will be shared the week of February 24.

For more information about the agency’s CLPS initiative, CLICK HERE.

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