NASA

The moon as seen from the Apollo 11.

Lunar company Intuitive Machines launched a private spacecraft onto the moon. The probe made its touchdown on the moon’s surface Thursday.

Arizona-based astronomer Steven Kates says the achievement marks the first moon landing since humans first went to the moon.

“We haven’t been to the surface of the moon since 1972. With Apollo 17, that is with humans., But what makes this even more phenomenal is the fact that it landed in an area of the southern part of the moon which is very, very close to a landing site that astronauts in the future may want to go to," he said.

However, he does not want NASA to rush the process of putting people back on the moon.