Sideways moon landing cuts mission short, private lunar lander expected to cease operations Tuesday

By MARCIA DUNN
AP Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A private lunar lander is expected to cease operations Tuesday, its mission cut short after landing sideways near the south pole of the moon. Intuitive Machines, the Houston company that built and flew the spacecraft, said Monday that sunlight will likely stop shining on the solar panels Tuesday morning. That’s two to three days short of what NASA and other customers had been counting on. Last Thursday, the lander became the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon in more than 50 years, carrying experiments for NASA. Photos from a NASA satellite around the moon show it landed within a mile of its target.