Athena spacecraft lands on moon 100 miles from south pole after tense descent

Flight controllers struggle to confirm status of Intuitive Machines’ probe in firm’s second lunar landing in just over a year

The Athena robotic spacecraft has touched down on the lunar surface in the second moon landing for the US space company Intuitive Machines in little more than a year.

The nearly 5 metre tall probe set down shortly after 5.30pm UK time on Thursday after a tense descent to Mons Mouton, a high and relatively flat mountain about 100 miles from the moon’s south pole.

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