Odysseus: US land their first spacecraft on the Moon in 50 years

Odysseus sent back this picture of the huge moon crater known as Bel'kovik

On Thursday evening, the Odysseus spacecraft landed on the Moon.

It's the first time a US spacecraft has landed on the Moon in 50 years.

The mission was organised by US company Intuitive Machines, and the shuttle is transporting some important experiments to be carried out on behalf of Nasa.

The shuttle went "quiet" for a short time after it landed, but scientists were soon relieved to hear it had landed safely in a southern section of the Moon.

This mission was unmanned - which means no humans went into space with it. However, it's hoped Odysseus will help astronauts prepare to send humans up to the Moon in the future.

Odysseus' journey

This 'selfie' came from Odysseus on Wednesday as it reached the Moon's orbit

When the spacecraft landed on the Moon, there was no signal back to Earth about where it had landed, or whether it had even arrived safely.

Back home, the team of scientists at Intuitive Machines nervously watched, waiting for an update.

Luckily, within a few hours, they had received an update from Odysseus. It had landed next to a huge Moon mountain, called the Malapert. This landing location is the most southerly point on the Moon a spacecraft has ever been.

Workers at Intuitive Machines celebrated and cheered when they heard the news

Ice and dust

The landing location is especially important for scientists. It's one of the locations that Nasa was considering for its Artemis mission to send humans back to the Moon.

That's because this area is permanently dark, and doesn't get any sunlight. This could mean there's ice there - which astronauts could turn into water to use on their mission.

Scientists also want to check out the dust on the Moon, which caused a lot of problems for the Apollo astronauts who headed to the Moon in 1969.

Check out this view of Earth from space that Odysseus sent through

What is Intuitive Machines, and what is special about this landing?

As well as being the first time the US has landed a spacecraft on the Moon in 50 years, it's also the first time it has been achieved by a company, rather than a government organisation like Nasa.

Nasa is run by the US government and the letters in its name stand for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

In contrast, Odysseus was set up by a space exploration company called Intuitive Machines, based in Texas, in the US.

Nasa has paid to send six scientific experiments up in the shuttle.