Shares of Intuitive Machines rose 23.9% on Monday, extending a recent rally, as the space exploration company aims to make history by launching a commercial Nova-C lander on the moon.
With SpaceX launch partner, Intuitive Machines LUNR,
It's aiming for a launch window starting at 12:57 a.m. ET on February 14. Nova-C will be launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A and is expected to land on the Moon in February. 22.
If the IM-1 mission is successful, Nova-C will be the United States' first commercial lunar lander. Last month, private US space company Astrobotic Technology completed its stalled mission to put a lander on the moon.
Related: Space exploration company Intuitive Machines is moving closer to a historic moon mission
Intuitive Machines stock finished Friday's session up 32.01%, its biggest daily gain since April 26, 2023, when it rose 32.3%.
“This stock is trying to go to the moon, literally,” StockTwits, a social platform for investors and traders, tweeted on Monday, referring to Intuitive Machines' pre-market gains on Monday.
The IM-1 mission is the first lunar landing attempt by Intuitive Machines under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services Initiative, which is part of the Artemis program to eventually return American astronauts to the Moon.
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The launch was timed for the monthly lunar dimming period. Nova-C will land near the Moon's south pole, where the right lighting conditions are available for only a few days each month.
The mission will carry NASA science and technology instruments focused on plume-surface interactions, space weather, lunar surface interactions, radio astronomy, precision landing techniques, and the communications and navigation node for future autonomous navigation technologies, according to the space agency.
Commercial lunar landings are important exploration missions for the Artemis program. Last month, NASA said it was now targeting September 2025 for the first crewed Artemis mission around the moon, and September 2026 for an Artemis mission to land astronauts near the moon's south pole.
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Last month, Japan's Lunar Exploration Intelligent Lander, or SLIM, successfully touched down on the lunar surface. However, the probe was upside down on the lunar surface in an image taken by the SLIM spacecraft.
Shares of Intuitive Machines have fallen 40.9% over the past 52 weeks, compared with the S&P 500's gain of 21.6%.
