For the second time in two years, a commercial lunar lander built and operated by Intuitive Machines has fallen over on the moon

A robotic private spacecraft meant to gather critical data for humanity’s return to the moon toppled over upon landing, cutting the mission short, its operator Intuitive Machines (IM) confirmed on Friday.

A day after a live webcast captured a somber-looking mission control room in the minutes surrounding its planned Thursday landing time of 12:32 p.m., the company has confirmed on its website that its IM-2 Nova-C class lunar lander is on its side — a fate that matches its first lander, IM-1, that toppled upon landing in Feb. 2024.