Updates

** Intuitive Machines' shares LUNR.O fall 22.3% to $8.77 in extended trading

** Athena lander does not appear to be upright on the Moon surface, similar to last year's landing, the startup said at a press conference

** Athena Lander is returning data despite faulty landing, NASA official says

** LUNR earlier said Athena lander "is on the surface of the Moon" but spacecraft's health, orientation remains unclear

** Austin-based Firefly Aerospace this month celebrated a clean touchdown of its Blue Ghost lander, making the most successful soft landing by a private company to date

** Shares of Virgin Galactic Holdings SPCE.N down 3.2%, AST SpaceMobile ASTS.O down 6.1% in extended trading

** Shares of Redwire Corp RDW.N up 2.7%, Planet Labs PL.N up 1%, in extended trading

** Among the payloads is Lonestar Data Holdings' first lunar data center and Nokia's equipment to set up the first cellular network on the moon

** Up to last close, LUNR up ~165% in the past 12 months

(Reporting by Akash Sriram, Kritika Lamba and Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru)

((Akash.Sriram@thomsonreuters.com; https://twitter.com/hoodieonveshti))