Houston company readies for Moon landing

• Plus, it's one more feather in our Space City cap.

Driving the news: Intuitive Machines engineers hope the IM-2 lander — nicknamed Athena — will safely touch down near the Moon's southern pole at 11:32am CST Thursday, the company says.

• The equipment was rocketed by SpaceX Falcon 9 in late February and has been orbiting the Moon since earlier this week.

Flashback: The company landed its IM-1 vehicle on the Moon in 2024, but the machine tipped over upon touchdown, cutting the mission short.

The big picture: The IM-2 will help gather critical data for NASA's Artemis missions to the Moon.

• The instruments onboard are part of a NASA program that utilizes public-private partnerships to lay the foundation for a sustained human lunar presence.

How to watch: The landing will be livestreamed on NASA+ and Intuitive Machines' YouTube channel.