--- title: Intuitive Machines: 2024 TIME100 Most Influential Companies description: Intuitive Machines: 2024 TIME100 Most Influential Companies canonical: https://time.com/collections/time100-companies-2024/6980452/intuitive-machines/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2024-05-30T11:30:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-03T00:31:30.968Z article:section: Business og:title: TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2024: Intuitive Machines og:description: Find out why Intuitive Machines is on the list og:url: https://time.com/collections/time100-companies-2024/6980452/intuitive-machines/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte845871b89c4204b/698a57309d83e88a50b9a22f/time100-companies-intuitive-machines-2024.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2024: Intuitive Machines og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2024: Intuitive Machines twitter:description: Find out why Intuitive Machines is on the list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte845871b89c4204b/698a57309d83e88a50b9a22f/time100-companies-intuitive-machines-2024.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- May 30, 2024 # Intuitive Machines by [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/) ## Jeffrey Kluger Editor at Large  The Odysseus lunar lander The Odysseus lunar landerIntuitive Machines/Abaca Press/Reuters On Feb. 22, the unmanned Odysseus spacecraft from Houston-based Intuitive Machines,[ soft-landed](https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/odysseus-lands-on-the-moon/) on the moon. It joined the U.S., Russia, India, Japan, and China as part of a rarefied group that has achieved the feat—the first ever commercial company to do so, and the first U.S. landing on the moon since the 1970s. Founded in 2013, the company—with just 389 employees—is working with public and private sectors to develop a commercial economy on and around the moon, so Odysseus [carried](https://www.space.com/intuitive-machines-odysseus-moon-lander-payloads) both scientific equipment for NASA and payloads for commercial firms. In 2018, co-founder, president, and CEO Steve Altemus (who spent 24 years working on human spaceflight at NASA) helped secure a share of a $2.6 billion [contract](https://www.nasa.gov/commercial-lunar-payload-services/) to propose and fly a range of missions, including two more landers to the south polar region of the moon, where Odysseus touched down and where future crews will land. Intuitive Machines also plans to launch six communications satellites into orbit around the moon, and aims to eventually land the 1.5-metric ton lunar rover that will be used by NASA’s [Artemis](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/artemis/) astronauts. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies-2024/6980452/intuitive-machines/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies-2024/6980452/intuitive-machines/"},"headline":"Intuitive Machines","datePublished":"2024-05-30T11:30:18.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-03T00:31:30.968Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies-2024/6980452/intuitive-machines/","keywords":["Companies","franchise","Magazine","Special Project","sponsorshipblock","Accolades"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte845871b89c4204b/698a57309d83e88a50b9a22f/time100-companies-intuitive-machines-2024.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Kluger","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/"}],"creator":"Jeffrey Kluger","articleSection":"Business","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte845871b89c4204b/698a57309d83e88a50b9a22f/time100-companies-intuitive-machines-2024.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/business/","name":"Business"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/companies/","name":"Companies"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-companies-2024/6980452/intuitive-machines/","name":"Intuitive Machines"}}]}] ```