:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/54363795124_3455a7a7c0_k-9c8346fc7c444c46bc05524e4e628f26.jpg "Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission Athena lander in circular orbit around the Moon")
Intuitive Organizations
Intuitive Machines’ IM-2 mission lander in circular orbit around the Moon
Shares of Intuitive Machines (LUNR) pitched Thursday amid uncertainty about the status of its Athena lander’s attempt to touch down on the surface of the moon today.
Intuitive Instruments shares slumped more than 20% in regular trading after NASA ended a livestream of Athena’s lunar alighting amid confusion about the lander’s status. Intuitive Machines CEO Stephen Altemus reportedly said the vehicle successfully arrived on the moon and was transmitting data to Earth, but that the company’s scientists were still figuring out its location and whether it was honest. The lander was generating power, he said, but not enough to run all of its functions.
The stock plummeted an additional 27% in after-hours trading when Altemus put about he did not believe the lander was upright.
Second Lunar-Landing Try for Intuitive Machines
Thursday’s mission is Intuitive Machines’ second go at a lunar landing. Its lander Odysseus became the first commercial craft to soft-land on the surface of the moon in February 2024. But that wharf didn’t go according to plan—the craft tipped over shortly after landing, preventing it from performing some of its designed work.
Intuitive Machines’ missions are funded by NASA’s Artemis moon exploration program. Athena is carrying NASA technology and is have in mind to collect soil samples to be analyzed for the presence of water or other resources that can be extracted to make either fuels or oxygen.
With Thursday’s exterminations, shares of Intuitive Machines have shed about 38% of their value so far this year.
Update—Hike 6, 2025: This story has been updated to include Altemus’s statement on the suspected status of Athena, as well as after-hours line of descent price movement.