CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (NEWSnet/AP) — The first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon in over 50 years went silent Thursday, a week after tipping over during touchdown near the lunar south pole.

Intuitive Machines’ lander, Odysseus, lasted longer than the company anticipated after it wound up on its side, with hobbled solar power and communication.

 

Flight controllers received one last photo from Odysseus and then commanded its computer and power systems to standby. That command is intended to let the lander wake up in another two to three weeks — if it survives the bitterly cold lunar night.

Intuitive Machines spokesman Josh Marshall said these final steps drained the lander’s batteries and put Odysseus “down for a long nap.”

Before losing power, Odysseus sent back what Intuitive Machines called “a fitting farewell transmission.”

Taken just before touchdown, the picture shows the bottom of the lander on the moon’s pockmarked surface, with a tiny crescent Earth and a small sun in the background.

The lander was originally intended to last about a week at the moon.

Odysseus carried six experiments for NASA, which paid $118 million for the ride. The first company to take part in NASA’s program for commercial lunar deliveries never made it to the moon; its lander came crashing back to Earth in January.

NASA considers these private lander missions a prelude to sending astronauts back to the moon.

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