Moon lander lying sideways after dramatic lunar touchdown

The moon lander known as Odysseus is "alive and well" but resting on its side a day after its touchdown as the first private spacecraft ever to reach the lunar surface, and the first from the US since 1972, the company behind the vehicle has said.

The vehicle is believed to have caught one of its six landing feet on the lunar surface near the end of its final descent and tipped over, coming to rest sideways, propped up on a rock, an analysis of data by flight engineers showed, according to Houston-based Intuitive Machines.

Still, all indications are that Odysseus "is stable near or at our intended landing site" close to a crater called Malapert A in the region of the moon's south pole, said Stephen Altemus, chief executive officer of Intuitive Machines, which built and flew the lander.

"We do have communications with the lander," and mission control operators are sending commands to the vehicle, Mr Altemus said, adding that they were working to obtain the first photo images from the lunar surface from the landing site.