Space

NASA to Launch Second Commercial Probe, Aims for Moon’s South Pole

The lunar lander, named Athena, will land on the moon no earlier than March 6.
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NASA to Launch Second Commercial Probe, Aims for Moon’s South Pole
The SpaceX logo on a Falcon 9 rocket at the Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 2, 2024. Joe Skipper/Reuters
T.J. Muscaro
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NASA is set to take its latest unmanned moonshot from the Florida coast on Feb. 26, this time taking close aim at the ultimate destination of its Artemis Program: the Lunar South Pole.

The second lunar lander, named Athena and built by Houston-based Intuitive Machines, will leave the planet atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center’s launch complex 39A around 7:15 p.m. on Feb. 26. This is the latest example of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative and Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission.

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T.J. Muscaro
T.J. Muscaro
Author
T.J. Muscaro is an award-winning reporter and NASA Correspondent for The Epoch Times, covering the Artemis program, Space Force, and other public and private ambitions within the growing space industry. Based in Tampa, Florida, he also covers stories of extreme weather and disaster relief, as well as various matters of national and international politics.