CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Landing a spacecraft on the moon has long been a series of hits and misses.

Now, a U.S. company has become the first private outfit to achieve a safe moon landing. Only five countries have done it.

A lander built by Intuitive Machines through a NASA-sponsored program touched down on the moon Thursday. It ended up tipped over on its side but was working with limited communications, company officials said Friday.

The achievement puts the U.S. back on the moon for the first time since NASA astronauts closed out the Apollo program in 1972.

The moon is littered with wreckage from failed landings over the years. Another U.S. company — Astrobotic Technology — tried to send a lander to the moon last month, but had to give up because of a fuel leak. The crippled lander came crashing back through the atmosphere, burning up over the Pacific.