Intuitive Machines (LUNR 8.60%) stock soared 9.9% through 12:52 p.m. ET on Wednesday -- and it isn't even 7:17 p.m. yet.

Why such ultra-specific numbers? Because according to Kennedy Space Center, 7:17 p.m. is the time set for SpaceX to launch its next rocket. And on that rocket will be a Nova-C lunar lander built by Intuitive Machines, which the company plans to land on the moon.

But investors today are rewarding Intuitive Machines before it's even gotten its lander off of Earth -- much less landed safely on the moon!

Intuitive Machines' moon dreams

It's been a whole year since Intuitive Machines' history-making IM-1 mission, which landed a (robotic) spacecraft on the moon for the U.S. for the first time in more than 50 years.

With this evening's launch, Intuitive Machines will attempt to repeat the feat. Assuming the launch goes as planned, the lander will spend the next eight days en route to the moon, and then make its landing attempt on March 6.

Intuitive Machines calls its lander a Nova-C class vehicle. This specific lander also has a specific name: Athena. And the entire mission that Intuitive Machines is running, putting Athena on the moon to deliver cargo and beam back data to Earth, is called the IM-2 (for Intuitive Machines' second landing) mission.

IM-2 is part of a broader NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services, or CLPS project, which is itself part of the Project Artemis endeavor to return American astronauts to the moon before the end of the decade.

Is Intuitive Machines stock a buy?

A successful IM-2 will cement Intuitive's position as America's most reliable lander of spacecraft on the moon. Plus, NASA awarded Intuitive $47 million to run the IM-2 mission. That's roughly 25% of Intuitive's 2024 revenue.

It might not make Intuitive Machines stock a buy, exactly, but it's still a very big deal.