Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lunar lander on display at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.
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Actions of Intuitive machines jumped 20% in Friday trading after the company's successful first moon landing.
Intuitive Machines' Nova-C lunar cargo lander, known as “Odysseus,” on Thursday became the first privately developed spacecraft to land on the lunar surface, as well as the first American spacecraft to soft land on the Moon in more than 50 years.
The company, based in Houston, Texas, confirmed that the lander of the IM-1 mission was upright and sending data to Earth.
“Odysseus has found its new home,” Tim Crain, Intuitive Machines' chief technology officer and IM-1 mission director, said Thursday afternoon from the company's mission control.
Intuitive Machines stock initially rose 40% from its previous close of $8.28 per share before paring gains on heavy trading volume. The company has a market valuation of around $1 billion.
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The company's stock has been rising over the past month as excitement has grown in the lead-up to and progress of the IM-1 mission. Intuitive Machines went public via a SPAC a year ago and shares had steadily fallen to record lows near $2 in January.
Intuitive Machines stock for the last 5 days.
Wall Street analysts emphasized to CNBC before the landing that the unprecedented nature of the event could lead to volatile momentum in trading.
“We have never seen a publicly traded company go through [a moon landing attempt]. So this is new, not only for investors, but also for us analysts,” said Andrés Sheppard, of Cantor Fitzgerald, before landing.
In a note to investors after the landing, Cantor Fitzgerald raised his price target on Intuitive Machines shares to $13 per share from $4 per share.
“In our view, this validates the company's technology and adds significant credibility to the business. As such, we believe Intuitive Machines is now very well positioned to continue capitalizing on the growing commercial space economy and subsequent launches,” Sheppard wrote in the note.
The IM-1 “Odysseus” lander in lunar orbit on February 21, 2024.
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Intuitive Machines, in a statement Friday morning, said that “Odysseus is alive and well,” and noted that the lander is charging its solar panels.
“Flight controllers are communicating and directing the vehicle to download scientific data,” the company said.
The company and NASA plan to hold a press conference at 5 p.m. ET on Friday.
The Odysseus lander was carrying 12 government and commercial payloads, six of which are for NASA under a $118 million contract through the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
Intuitive Machines has already won two more CLPS contracts for future lander missions, with IM-2 expected to launch as early as the second half of this year.
Additionally, the company has part of a five-year contract worth $719 million to provide engineering services to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Analysts expect the Goddard contract to be worth about $11 million per month in revenue to Intuitive Machines, and Cantor Fitzgerald estimates the company will generate about $338 million in revenue by fiscal 2024.
