Beginner
Moon Lander Odysseus Falls on Side after Landing
February 26th, 2024
A moon lander named Odysseus went to the moon. It came from a place called Intuitive Machines. When it landed, it fell over. It was close to where it wanted to land. Now, it is on its side and can't talk very well to Earth.
The lander had many experiments inside. People from NASA, who study space, wanted the lander to do these tests on the moon. But because the lander is on its side, it might not be able to do all the tests.
There are not many pictures of Odysseus on the moon. But we know it is near a place with lots of shadows and maybe ice. NASA wants to send people there to walk around.
Other moon landers have also had problems. But Odysseus is the first from a private company to land there safely.
The lander did not turn on its special lasers at first. But NASA had a backup laser. This helped Odysseus to land near the right spot.
Long ago, people from Earth walked on the moon. They were from NASA. Now, NASA is trying to send new things to the moon. They want to learn more about it.
Intuitive Machines will try to land on the moon again. They have a plan with NASA to do more.
This story is by a group that writes news. They write about health and science. A big medical group helps them. But the news group writes by themselves.
AI isn't perfect, so some things may be inaccurate. We don't necessarily endorse the views or information you see here and provide it for language learning purposes only.
💭 Discussion Questions
1
. What is the name of the moon lander?2
. Where did the moon lander come from?3
. What happened when the lander landed on the moon?📖 Vocabulary
🌐 Cultural context
This article is from the United States where NASA, the space agency, works on space exploration. The moon lander is a spacecraft. Private companies in the U.S. also build spacecraft. They work with NASA to learn about space.
🧠 Further reading
Timeline of space exploration
People have been exploring space for a long time. There have been many important steps and first times in space exploration. We do not talk about which country or company did each thing. We think about what humans have done together.
Long ago, people started to look at space. They did more each year. First, people sent things into space without people. Then, they sent men and women into space. People walked on the Moon. Robots went to other planets.
We keep learning and going further into space. We use robots and spaceships to learn more. We have made a list of the important things we have done in space. This list has many dates and events about space.
We have lists of other things too. There is a list of space records and a list of things that have gone to space. We can see what different countries have done in space. We can also learn about space companies.
We have books and websites with more about space. They tell us about space missions and the history of people in space. We have a big plan for space in the future. We can see this plan on the internet.
Space is exciting! We will keep exploring and learning more.
Chinese Lunar Exploration Program
China has a space project to go to the Moon. The name of this project is after a Moon goddess called Chang'e. They send robots to the Moon. These robots move around and get pieces of the Moon to bring back. They are sent into space with big rockets called Long March rockets.
People watch the robots from Earth with big radio antennas. These antennas are very, very long. They help talk to the robots on the Moon.
There are some important people who help with the space project. Ouyang Ziyuan is the main scientist. He thinks we can find special metals and a kind of gas called helium-3 on the Moon. This gas could be very good for making power in the future. Ye Peijian is the main boss and designer. There is also another scientist named Sun Jiadong, and his helper is Sun Zezhou. Luan Enjie is the manager.
The first robot, called Chang'e 1, went to the Moon in 2007. It did not go on the day it was supposed to, but a little later. Another robot, Chang'e 2, went in 2010. Then Chang'e 3 went in 2013 and it had a special car that could move on the Moon. It landed softly and it did not crash. Chang'e 4 also had a moving car and it went to the Moon in 2018. It landed in a special place on the Moon at the beginning of 2019.
Space technology
Space stuff helps us do things in space. We have space ships, satellites, and places to live up there. We use big rockets to send things into space. This technology lets us talk over long distances, watch TV, and know where we are going with special maps from space. We also learn about stars and our Earth with this space stuff.
A long time ago, a country called the Soviet Union sent the first thing into space. It was a machine called Sputnik 1. It went around the Earth and told us about the air up there. Then, they sent a man named Yuri into space in a spaceship called Vostok 1. They were not sure how his body would feel without gravity, so they did not let him drive. A different space machine called Luna 2 from the same country hit the Moon first. And they also took the first picture of the back of the Moon with Luna 3. A special trip called Apollo 8 with three men was the first with people to go really far and see the whole Earth.