Intuitive Machines' lunar lander beams back first images of Earth after launch: See photos

The Athena lunar lander manufactured by Houston, Texas aerospace company Intuitive Machines shared its first "selfies" from orbit after launching Wednesday night from Florida.

The two images released Thursday morning show the six-legged Nova-C lander with Earth in the background. Intuitive Machines shared the photos within about 13 hours of the spacecraft launching to orbit aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

The Athena spacecraft, which is on a mission known as IM-2 , is now one of two American-made uncrewed lunar landers on their way to the moon's surface. Firefly Aerospace, also based in Texas, is operating its own spacecraft named Blue Ghost that is due to attempt a landing early Sunday after about a 45-day voyage.

NASA is the primary customer on both commercial spaceflights, which are due to study different regions of the moon's surface to pave the way for astronauts to return as early as 2027 under the space agency's Artemis program. The NASA campaign is treating the moon as a vital pit stop for spacefarers to pause and fuel up ahead of the first crewed missions to Mars .

If all goes to plan, Athena should be landing on the moon's south pole on Thursday, March 6 .

Athena lunar lander shares 1st images of Earth after launch

The Athena lander got off the ground right on time at 7:16 p.m. EST Wednesday from the Kennedy Space Center on the historic launch pad 39A  – the site of the space agency's Apollo moon mission launches.

The spacecraft then reached its intended orbit about 44 minutes later before establishing communication at 8:17 p.m. with mission controllers on the ground, according to Intuitive Machines.

The aerospace company said Thursday morning that the lander was "in excellent health" as it prepared to fire its engines in a series of maneuvers to correct its trajectory. In the days ahead, Athena will leave Earth's orbit behind as it powers on toward lunar orbit.

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Here's a look at the two images the lander captured, sure to be the first of many:

“Athena joining a historic wave of lunar landers on their way to the moon is an extraordinary moment,” Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said in a statement. “While the most vital part of this mission lies ahead, we believe this is a signal that lunar services are rapidly advancing ... to establish a foothold on the moon to reach further into the Solar System.”

NASA’s  Lunar Trailblazer  spacecraft, which launched as a rideshare on the Falcon 9, also began its own seperate journey Wednesday to lunar orbit to map the distribution of the different forms of water on  Earth's only natural satellite .

What is the IM-2 mission? NASA to hunt for moon water

The IM-2 mission is targeting a landing near a plateau known as  Mons Mouton , which would be even further south than Intuitive Machines' first lander, Odysseus, which made history in February 2024 . The mesa-like lunar mountain towers over  a landscape carved by craters , including the  Shackleton Crater – a cold, dark region where water ice and other volatile materials that turn easily into gas are thought to be abundant.

The main experiment onboard Athena is NASA's PRIME-1 (Polar Resources Ice Mining Experiment-1). The dual instrument composed of both a drill and a mass spectrometer will excavate and measure lunar soil, known as regolith, to detect whether gases and accessible resources are present.

Water ice thought to be abundant in the region, once uncovered, could  be extracted and used for drinking , breathing and  as a source of hydrogen and oxygen  for rocket fuel to make future expeditions to Mars possible, according to NASA.

Other objectives including testing a a Nokia LTE 4G communications system and deploying a propulsive drone capable of hopping across the lunar surface.

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: IM-2 lunar lander sends first images of Earth after launch: See photos