A US spacecraft landed on the Moon for the first time in 51 years.

That's where we're starting the 7 from the Washington Post.

I'm Hannah Jewel.

It's Friday, February 23rd. Let's get you caught up with today's seven stories.

The spacecraft Odysseus reached the surface of the moon yesterday. It was designed by the Houston-based

company Intuitive Machines. This is the first time a US spacecraft has landed on the

Moon since the last of the Apollo missions in 1972, and it was the first commercial spacecraft to ever do so.

It was a tense landing.

At first, ground controllers were unsure about the health of the vehicle, but finally it was confirmed

that it had landed successfully, it was

standing upright, and it was communicating with Earth. What we can confirm,

without a doubt, is our equipment is on the surface of the Moon and we are

transmitting.

So congratulations I am team.

We'll see how much more we can get from that.

Houston Odysseus has found his new home. The landing is a big success for NASA,

and its project to hire private companies for moon missions.

And it comes at a time when several other nations are also eyeing the moon,

and its lunar south pole, which has water in the form of ice.

The landing there is a significant step toward NASA's plan to return astronauts to the

lunar surface as soon as 2026. Number two, President Biden met with Alexei Navalny's widow and daughter yesterday.

Navalny was a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, and he was the leader of an opposition

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