(NewsNation) — In less than 24 hours, NASA is planning to launch its latest moon mission in partnership with private space companies.
The launch is set to take place at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, as the race to send humans to the moon continues. Japan, China and Russia are vying to land on the lunar surface, along with private companies, including Intuitive Machines.
CEO Steve Altemus told NewsNation his team is ready to make history by being the first commercial space company to land on the moon.
“We’re leading off our return to the moon with commercial companies flying payloads for NASA for scientific and engineering discovery,” he said.
The Intuitive Machines lander will be hitching a ride to the moon on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will travel to the lunar south pole.
Intuitive Machines is just one of several commercial companies working with NASA, though not all missions have been a success. An earlier attempt at a moon landing with the Peregrine lander failed after launch.
All of the commercial partnerships are part of the lead-up to the Artemis program, which will put humans back on the moon for the first time in decades.
NASA doesn’t just want to land people on the moon, though, it wants to keep them there and be able to use the moon as a jumping-off point for missions to deeper space.
Retired NASA astronaut Jose Hernandez said the commercial companies are key to making that happen.
“It’s great that commercial entities are coming into the space exploration arena, basically enhancing our capabilities because, let’s face it, they’re able to do things quicker,” he said.
The launch is set for 1 a.m. Wednesday.
