Houston-based company Intuitive Machines’s spacecraft, Odysseus, will embark on its journey to the Moon on Thursday after SpaceX moved the day of launch from Wednesday. The firm aims to be the first to land a commercially built probe on the lunar surface.
The postponement announcement came Tuesday night.
The spacecraft is set to lift off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, riding atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
If successful, Odysseus will spend eight days in space before making the lunar landing on February 22, which would be the first in over 50 years.
The launch comes after a recent failed attempt by another company, Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic Technology, due to a fuel leak.
Both Intuitive Machines and Astrobotic Technology are part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which aims to utilize private-sector moon landers for cargo and scientific missions.
Odysseus will carry commercial cargo and NASA science instruments. It has a planned landing near the moon’s south pole, known for its water ice deposits.