On February 22, 2024 a spacecraft landed on the moon. This was the first moon landing of an American craft since Apollo 17 in 1972. There was lots of celebration for the mission. The craft Odysseus was sent to the moon in a cooperative effort of NASA and Intuitive Machines, a Texas-based company.
But unfortunately, one of the legs of the lander failed, and the machine toppled over. The craft's solar panels could not be turned to face the sun, and the batteries failed all too quickly. A few images were beamed back to earth, but that was all the mission could do. The lander had six legs, which seems like more than enough for the job, but alas, it was not.
The mission was a success in that it did land on the moon, but certainly a disappointment because of its short life on the lunar surface.
They say that you learn more through failure than success. I don't enjoy failure, but I do like to learn. Seems like I have had plenty of small successes, followed by significant failures.
I should be learning a lot.
