Intuitive Machines Stock Headed Toward Worst Single-Day Session In A Year After Lunar Lander Athena Lands On Its Side: Retail’s Skeptical

Intuitive Machines, Inc. (LUNR) shares fell over 26% on Friday after the company disclosed that its IM-2 mission lunar lander, Athena, landed on its side, 250 meters from its intended landing site in the Mons Mouton region of the lunar south pole.

“This was the southernmost lunar landing and surface operations ever achieved. Images downlinked from Athena on the lunar surface confirmed that Athena was on her side,” the company said in a release.

Friday’s decline marks the stock’s worst single-day session in a year, according to KoyFin data.

The company also said that it does not expect Athena to recharge given the direction of the sun, the orientation of the solar panels, and the extremely cold temperatures in the crater.

“Images downlinked from Athena on the lunar surface confirmed that Athena was on her side. After landing, mission controllers were able to accelerate several program and payload milestones, including NASA’s PRIME-1 suite, before the lander’s batteries depleted,” the company said.

According to a Stocktwits poll, 36% of the 5,200 respondents believe the Athena lander was a 'total failure.' Only one-fifth of the participants believe it was successful.

One user expressed optimism about the mission's progress and explained why it doesn’t make sense to call it a failure.

The firm launched the lander from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket on Feb. 26. Last year, its lander Odysseus also tipped over while landing on the Moon's surface after one of its legs broke.

Canaccord analyst Austin Moeller lowered the firm's price target on Intuitive Machines to $22 from $26 while keeping a ‘Buy’ rating on the shares.

Despite the news, retail sentiment on Stocktwits climbed higher into the ‘extremely bullish’ territory (88/100). The move was accompanied by ‘extremely high’ message volume.

According to Stocktwits data, LUNR shares saw a 690% rise in message volumes in the last 24 hours. Retail users expressed skepticism following the announcement.

LUNR shares have lost over 55% in 2025 but are up over 67% over the past year.

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