A private lunar lander is no longer working after landing sideways in a crater near the moon’s south pole and its mission is over, officials said Friday. The news came less than 24 hours after the botched landing attempt by

Intuitive Machines’s Nova-C lander reached the moon Thursday but its orientation on the lunar surface was unknown as of Noon CST.

Athena, the private lunar lander from Intuitive Machines, missed its mark while landing on the moon Thursday and ended up sideways in a frigid crater. It did, however, manage to send back pictures confirming its position and activate a few experiments before going silent.

St. Petersburg-based space startup Lonestar Data Holdings says its lunar data center is the only surviving payload after a private lunar lander came down sideways on the moon.

A privately owned lunar lander has touched down near the moon's south pole. But flight controllers in Texas fear it may have fallen over.

Intuitive Machines' Athena moon lander planned to deploy two small rovers, a rocket-powered "hopper," and use a powerful drill to probe the lunar surface.

Blue Ghost successfully landed on the moon on Sunday (March 2), touching down in Mare Crisium ("Sea of Crises") — a large impact basin about 345 miles (555 kilometers) wide. The spacecraft sits near a volcanic cone called Mons Latreille within the basin, which is located in the northeast region of the moon's near side.

The final images from the ‘Athena’ lander seem to show it awkwardly approaching the Moon from its side. Intuitive Machines has since confirmed that the IM-2's orientation is off.

SpaceX will launch Intuitive Machine’s Athena lunar lander toward the moon’s south pole on Wednesday, marking the latest mission by Intuitive Machine to explore the moon’s surface after completing the first-ever lunar landing by a private company last year.