Intuitive Machines builds landers for the moon

Most companies sell things you can buy at a store. Intuitive Machines builds landers that go to the moon. On Feb 22, 2024, its lander Odysseus touched down softly on the lunar surface, the first time a private company had done that and the first U.S. moon landing since Apollo 17 in 1972.

Where it came from

Intuitive Machines started in Houston in 2013. Steve Altemus, Kam Ghaffarian, and Tim Crain founded it. Altemus came from NASA's Johnson Space Center, where he had been deputy director. Ghaffarian also co-founded Axiom Space. Oddly enough, the company didn't begin as a space business. It used human spaceflight engineering to solve problems in healthcare, energy, and aerospace. Then NASA launched its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program in 2018, which pays private companies to deliver cargo to the Moon. Intuitive Machines pivoted and went all in on the Moon.

It went public in February 2023 by merging with a SPAC called Inflection Point Acquisition Corp. Its ticker, LUNR, says exactly what it does.

Landing on the Moon (sort of)

On Feb. 22, 2024, the company's Odysseus lander touched down in the Moon's south polar region. It was the first U.S. Moon landing since Apollo 17 in 1972 and the first soft landing ever by a private company. It also came in too fast, snapped a leg, and tipped onto its side. It kept working and sent back data anyway.

In March 2025, the second lander, Athena (IM-2), set down closer to the south pole than any lander before it. It also ended up on its side, this time inside a cold, dark crater, and the mission ended within a day. So the company is 2 for 2 on reaching the Moon and 0 for 2 on staying upright.

What it does now

Since then, Intuitive Machines has turned into a much bigger space company. In January 2026 it bought Lanteris, the satellite maker formerly called Maxar Space Systems, for about $853 million. Its workforce jumped from 525 people at the end of 2025 to about 1,695. In August 2026 it bought the Goonhilly Earth Station in England as well. The company sums up its strategy as "Build-Connect-Operate":

• Build: Moon landers, NASA Lunar Terrain Vehicle work, commercial communications satellites, and satellites for the Space Development Agency's missile-tracking programs
• Connect: NASA Near Space Network contracts, including a planned network of data-relay satellites around the Moon
• Operate: running those spacecraft and networks as ongoing services

In Q2 2026 it reported record revenue of $206 million and a $1.8 billion backlog. It also won its sixth NASA CLPS lander mission. The next landing, IM-3, is headed for a strange magnetic “lunar swirl” called Reiner Gamma. NASA now lists that mission for early 2027.

As of Oct. 22, 2026, Altemus is still CEO and Ghaffarian is still board chairman. That same day, the company added former NRO Director and former acting NASA Administrator Christopher Scolese to its board.

Source: NASA