US is attempting a nail-biting moon landing at the mysterious South Pole TODAY

THE Odysseus moon spacecraft will begin a historic landing today, the US's first attempt at a moon landing in half a century.

The lander, built by Texas-based Intuitive Machines, aims to be the first private lunar lander to successfully land on the moon.

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The Nova-C Odysseus launched on February 15 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, where it began its week-long journey to the moon's surface.

The launch was initially scheduled for Valentine's Day (February 14), but was postponed due to a problem with fuel temperatures.

The 675 kg spacecraft is currently in orbit about 92 kilometers above the moon.

“After a journey of more than 1,000,000 km [620,000 miles]Odysseus is now closer to the moon than the end-to-end distance of Space City, Houston, Texas,” the company confirmed in an X post yesterday.

Odysseus' time in lunar orbit will be short-lived, as the lander aims to land near the moon's south pole on February 22, no earlier than 5:30 PM EST (10:30 PM GMT).

If successful, it will be the first U.S. landing on the lunar surface since NASA's Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

“Flight controllers expect a delay of approximately 15 seconds before confirming the ultimate milestone, a soft landing on the moon's surface,” the company said. wrote in a landing description.

Once it reaches the surface, Odysseus will operate for only two weeks, or one lunar night.

Twelve payloads are on board the lander, including a next-gen system with four cameras to record the journey to the surface and landing sensors built in Britain by a company called MDA.

It comes just weeks after the US lunar lander Peregrine failed to reach the surface due to a fuel leak.

Peregrine Falcon disintegrated upon reentry into Earth's atmosphere just ten days after launch.

Mysterious South Pole

Intuitive Machines is targeting a crater near the south pole, known as Malapert A, as its landing site.

The south pole of the moon has been a place of interest for all spacefaring countries including India, Russia, China and the US.

Last year, India made history by becoming the first country to land near the southern location.

A few days earlier, Russia also attempted a landing at the South Pole, which ended in an emergency landing.

NASA's Artemis III mission — the first human mission on the moon since Apollo 17 — aims to explore an area near the moon's south pole.

Scientists believe the South Pole is the most promising location for water-based ice, which they say is key to future human habitation on the moon.

This latest attempt to reach the moon is part of NASA's $2.6 billion Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, which aims to engage commercial companies in lunar surface exploration.

This allows NASA to instead channel its efforts (and money) toward getting astronauts back on the moon.

It's part of a decade-long program that hopes to culminate in a permanent moon base, which NASA hopes to build by the end of this decade.

As part of this mission, the space agency has tapped private industry to engage the sector with rocket launches and lunar landers.