Moonward! 🚀 🌕 On Feb. 26 at 7:16 p.m. EST (0016 UTC), IntuitiveMachines' Athena lunar lander lifted off from NASAKennedy aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Athena is scheduled to touch down on Thursday, March 6, on Mons Mouton, a plateau in the Moon's South Pole region—watch the stream on plus.nasa.gov. Athena is carrying several science and technology demonstrations to gather data about Earth’s nearest neighbor and help pave the way for NASAArtemis astronauts to explore the Moon and beyond, for the benefit of all. Our Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft launched as a rideshare with the IM-2 mission and is beginning its journey to lunar orbit, tasked to map the distribution of different forms of water on the Moon. Observations gathered from its two-year mission will help us learn about water cycles on airless bodies throughout the solar system—while also supporting future human and robotic missions to the Moon by identifying where water is located. Image descriptions: Leaving a golden...