Intuitive Machines stock plummets after second apparent sideways moon landing

By Akash Sriram

(Reuters) – Intuitive Machines’ shares tumbled 34% in premarket trading on Friday after its second moon lander, Athena, appeared to have landed on its side, mirroring the company’s first lunar landing attempt last year.

The six-legged Athena lander, touched down at a site about 100 miles (160 km) from the moon’s south pole, but Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said data showed that the lander was on its side.

The sideways position complicates power generation from its solar panels, rendering the mission “off-nominal,” according to the company.

Intuitive already received about 90% of its potential $120 million contract for landing, but some milestone payments depend on payloads being operational, according to Canaccord Genuity analyst Austin Moeller.

Shares of the Houston, Texas-based company closed 20% lower on Thursday, after more than doubling in the past 12 months up to last close.

The company’s shares, which went public about two years ago, are susceptible to high volatility, with 56% available for trade.

Athena carried 11 payloads and scientific instruments to the moon, including a drill to check for water ice, other resources in the lunar soil, the first data center and cellular network on the moon.

Separately, SpaceX’s Starship mega rocket, the largest in the world, exploded on Thursday, minutes after launch, raining debris off the coast of Florida and the Bahamas, in what was the Elon Musk-led company’s second straight failure.

As part of NASA’s strategy to rekindle lunar exploration with reduced costs, Intuitive is among several companies leading the U.S.’s private-sector return to the moon.

Austin-based Firefly Aerospace over the weekend celebrated a clean touchdown of its Blue Ghost lander, marking the most successful soft landing by a private company to date.

“It (sideways landing) may have an impact on (Intuitive’s) credibility, but we still think that they are one of the better positioned companies to capitalize on the industry,” said Andres Sheppard, senior analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald.

“In our view at least, it’s not indicative of the company now being in a dire situation.”

(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)