Adam Durbin
Live reporter

We'll be wrapping up our live coverage of a historic day in commercial space exploration - thanks for following along.

If you missed it earlier, we had it confirmed that Odysseus successfully landed on the surface of the Moon - after a nervous wait in which the team lost communications with the spacecraft.

But after those agonising moments, the team reported it landed intact and is transmitting - officially making Intuitive Machines the first commercial company to successfully land a spacecraft on the lunar surface.

It remains unclear, however, whether the spacecraft will still be able to achieve its goals near the south pole of the Moon, as the team scramble to work out what kind of condition it is in.

The Houston-based company aims to send another spacecraft in March that would drill to find underground ice scientists believe to be in the southernmost tip of the Moon's surface.

Irrespective of how the mission pans out from here, the landing marks an important milestone for commercial spacecraft and for the US space industry.

It is potentially the beginning of a new era in private-public space missions, which is clearly reflected in the excitement from Nasa and from the Intuitive Machines machine here on earth.

If you'd like to read more about this evening's momentous events, our science correspondent Jonathan Amos has you covered here.

We're getting some more images from the people on the ground for the launch, as they waited for the news that Odysseus had stuck the lunar landing.

Tension had been building, as the experts searched for any sign after communications went down.

But once it was confirmed, those who had put in the hard yards erupted in cheers.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

As you can probably imagine, there was considerable excitement among Nasa and Intuitive Machines staff once they found out that all their work and preparation had paid off.

It seemed particularly joyous given the a few tense moments in which it was not clear whether they had been successful.

This was the raucous scene in the control room when they heard the news that Odysseus had successfully landed on the Moon's surface and as transmitting. Watch the moment below:

Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent

We’ve just witnessed an important moment, not just for the commercial exploitation of space but for the American space programme in general.

Intuitive Machines has broken a half-century absence of the US from the Moon's surface. Not since the last Apollo mission has US hardware nestled down gently in the lunar soil.

The Odysseus spacecraft has no-one onboard - it's just a robot - but its planned scientific investigations make it a scout for the return of astronauts later this decade.

The question we all have right now is: what condition is it in?

Clearly it landed softly enough to transmit to Earth, but the controllers at Intuitive Machines haven’t got the clarity they were hoping for... at least not yet.

In the coming hours, as engineers work to understand the signals coming down from the Moon, a picture will emerge about the craft’s status.

Remember, we had to wait a couple of hours before the Japanese space agency was able to tell us that their Slim lander was down and safe, albeit in an awkward position. Odysseus may also be in an awkward position.

But don’t underplay what’s just happened. America is back on the Moon.

Nasa chief Bill Nelson has applauded the Odysseus landing as a "giant leap forward for all of humanity" and a triumph for the US.

"For the first time in more than half a century, the US has returned to the Moon," he said in remarks recorded earlier.

"Today, for the first time in the history of humanity, a commercial company - an American company - launched and led the voyage up there."

The spacecraft is carrying six scientific instruments on Nasa's behalf that are designed to help study the Moon's surface and measure radio waves.

Nelson said the landing starkly highlights "the power and promise" of commercial partnerships between Nasa and commercial space firms and congratulated "everyone involved in this great and daring quest".

Rebecca Morelle
Science editor

Watching a lunar landing is always nerve-wracking - especially when you know that about half of all attempted lunar landings have not succeeded.

Then finding out that a laser onboard the spacecraft has failed, with a back-up navigation system that was supposed to be a tech demonstration was responsible for getting the lander down, made it more nail-biting still.

And then throw in a seemingly endless wait to hear anything back...

But now the team has had a signal they know the spacecraft has made it down to the surface bringing the US back to the Moon.

The team will now want to find out how the lander is doing - and why it took so long to take a signal back -before the science phase of this mission can begin.

After a round of somewhat muted applause, we've just heard CEO Steve Altemus tell his team: "welcome to the moon".

Speaking to his team, Altemus says that Odysseus has found its "new home".

They're still having some communications issues, but the team has confirmed that the spacecraft is on the surface of the moon and transmitting.

We've heard the team confirm Odysseus has successfully landed near the South Pole of the Moon, a monumental moment for US firm Intuitive Machines and for the wider US space sector.

With the landing, Intuitive Machines has become the first private company to successfully land a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon.

It's also a big day for Nasa and the US air and space community, which has not launched a successful mission to the Moon in over half a century.

Stay with us for more updates and watch along by clicking Play above.

Rebecca Morelle
Science editor

The team has just said they think there’s some kind of faint signal from the spacecraft’s high gain antenna.

Stand by watch this space…

Rebecca Morelle
Science editor

This is the kind of nerve-wracking wait that you do not want after a nerve-wracking landing…

The spacecraft is supposed to have landed – but we haven’t heard anything back - yet.

Now the Goonhilly Earth Station in Cornwall is going to try and find out.

They’re the primary telemetry and tracking station for the landing.

They’ll be using their huge dish to try and listen out for a signal.

Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent

So, Odysseus should be down. But did it make a safe landing?

Just because we haven’t heard from the craft, doesn’t mean it’s a failure…Yet?

There could be an explanation for why communications aren’t working. Keep your fingers crossed.

From the control room, we've just heard that there is a "possible communications challenge" with Odysseus.

It's unclear what exactly is happening, but they've said that they are checking their monitoring systems.

The team has repeatedly said that this is a possibility and that communications might be tricky during the landing, but not necessarily a cause for concern.

We're listening along to the control room, with all signs pointing towards landing very shortly.

There's around 1km to go. But it may take some time for the experts to confirm if it was successful.

Click Play at the top of this page to watch along.

Rebecca Morelle
Science editor

This engine burn is slowing the spacecraft down to 1,800 metres a second - so it can get ready for its final vertical descent.

The spacecraft is beginning its powered descent down to the surface of the Moon.

After a journey of roughly 250,000 miles (402,000km), the lunar lander Odysseus is expected to touch down in just a few minutes at about 23:24 GMT.

The landing, near the lunar south pole, is tricky - and there's no guarantee of success.

Intuitive Machines CEO Stephen Altemus previously estimated the spacecraft has about an 80% chance of landing successfully.

It Odysseus does, it will be the first successful US moon landing in over 50 years - since Apollo 17 in 1972.

Stay with us for more updates and you can watch along by clicking Play at the top of this page.

Rebecca Morelle
Science editor

Image source, Ian Jones

A team in a remote corner of Cornwall is poised for the landing tonight.

The Goonhilly Earth Station is the primary telemetry and tracking station for the landing.

It will use its huge 32m-wide (105ft) dish to pick up the spacecraft’s signal as it travels around the Moon - and will know when it's made its way to the surface.

It's not the first lunar mission this centre has been involved in.

Goonhilly tracked Nasa's Orion Capsule during its first Artemis Mission in 2022 as well as the India’s moon mission Chandrayaan-3.

While we wait for Odysseus to attempt its tricky Moon landing, here's a look at how the spacecraft was propelled on its journey to space last Thursday.

You can see pictures from the early morning launch from from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida’s Cape Canaveral below:

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent

Intuitive Machines has lost the use of the lasers it was going to employ to find distances to provide to the navigation computers to get the spacecraft down safely.

Fortunately, Nasa has some technology-demonstration lasers on board.

Controllers have reconfigured the spacecraft to use the Nasa hardware.

It should still be able to determine its vertical and horizontal movement.

Rebecca Morelle
Science editor

Texan company Intuitive Machines (IM) will attempt to put a spacecraft called Odysseus on the Moon shortly. If the firm succeeds, it will be the first ever commercial venture to achieve the feat.

It would also represent the first American soft landing on the lunar surface since the Apollo era just over half a century ago. IM has been contracted by the US space agency(Nasa) to carry six scientific instruments to the Moon's south pole.

The targeted landing site is a cratered terrain next to a 5km-high mountain complex known as Malapert. The massif is one of the locations on Nasa's shortlist of places to send astronauts later this decade. Controllers at Intuitive Machines are aiming for a touchdown around 23:24 GMT.

There's less than an hour to go until the Odysseus spacecraft is scheduled to attempt to touch down near the South Pole of the Moon.

As we said in our last post, there's a Nasa video stream, where space experts are guiding us through the next and crucial phase of the mission.

You can now tune into that - as well as the BBC's own coverage of the mission - by tapping the Play button at the top of this page.