Key Takeaways Shares of Intuitive Machines rose Thursday after the company's lunar lander took off on a SpaceX rocket Wednesday night.The Athena lander will touch down on the moon in the coming days as the second mission in NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.

Intuitive Machines out of Texas is sending a second lunar lander, this time Athena, to the moon, where it will drill for water, ice and other gases.

Once deployed, the IM-2 mission's lunar lander, Athena, will start its 8-day trip to the South Pole of the Moon.

Houston-based Intuitive Machines’ second moon lander launched Wednesday evening from Florida atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceX has successfully launched Intuitive Machines’ Athena lander toward the moon in the IM-2 mission. Watch the launch here.The Latest Tech News, Delivered to Your Inbox

SpaceX will try to launch an Intuitive Machines lunar lander this evening. Eight days later, Intuitive Machines will attempt to land its Nova-C lander, named Athena, on the moon. NASA paid Intuitive Machines nearly $50 million for this mission.

The next launch from Cape Canaveral is scheduled for February 26th, featuring a SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying Intuitive Machines' second lunar lander. A bright and cold Friday morning saw a SpaceX rocket lift off on the latest Starlink mission.

NASA will send Intuitive Machines lunar lander atop SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Kennedy Space Center. You can livestream on iPhone, Android, YouTube

The Intuitive Machines Athena lander appears to have touched down on the moon's surface, but the landing didn't go smoothly.

The commercially and privately constructed Athena spacecraft landed on the moon Thursday, the second such device to do so in a week.

The Houston-based company is poised to land its Athena spacecraft on the moon at 12:30 p.m. ET. The landing site closer to the lunar south pole than any human or vehicle has traveled before.