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Shares of Intuitive Machines Inc. reversed course to trade lower in very active trading Wednesday, a day before the much-anticipated moon landing of the space-exploration company’s commercial probe.

In the latest update on the mission, the company said Thursday that its probe, Odysseus, had completed its main-engine, lunar-orbit insertion burn and was currently in a 92-kilometer circular lunar orbit.

“Odysseus continues to be in excellent health,” the company said.

Prior to Wednesday’s pullback, the stock
LUNR,
-6.55%
had rocketed 120.7% over the three trading sessions following the launch of the company’s Nova-C lunar lander atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Thursday morning. The stock had closed Tuesday at the highest price since April 19, 2023.

Intuitive Machines’ stock has pulled back a day before the scheduled moon landing of its Odysseus probe.


FactSet, MarketWatch

With the Nova-C scheduled to land at the moon’s south pole early on Feb. 22, the stock powered higher ahead of Wednesday’s open. It was up as much as 27% in early premarket trading before paring gains to be up 17.3% just before the opening bell at 9:30 a.m. Eastern time.

Don’t miss: As U.S. commercial lander heads to lunar surface, Apollo 17 astronaut Harrison Schmitt says moon is important for ‘vast energy and materials’

Then the bottom fell out and the stock was down as much as 27.2%, at an intraday low of $8, before bouncing. It was down 8.8% in morning trading.

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Intuitive Machines’ stock took a nosedive after Wednesday’s open.


FactSet, MarketWatch

Trading volume just after the first-hour mark of the regular session was 21.4 million shares, compared with the full-day average over the past 30 days of about 6.2 million shares.

The stock has been halted three times for volatility since the open.

The Nova-C is on track to become the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon since Apollo 17’s Challenger in December 1972.

While Intuitive Machines’ stock has blasted 245.7% higher over the past three months, it was down 73.5% over the past 12 months.

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