Intuitive Machines Inc ( LUNR ) shares are rising in extended trading Wednesday after the company was awarded a Lunar Terrain Vehicle contract with NASA.

What To Know: NASA awarded Intuitive Machines ( LUNR ) $30 million as a prime contractor to complete a Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services Feasibility Assessment. 

Under the contract, Intuitive Machines ( LUNR ) will focus on creating a feasibility roadmap to develop and deploy a Lunar Terrain Vehicle on the moon using the company’s Nova-D cargo-class lunar lander.

“This procurement strategically aligns with the Company’s flight-proven capability to deliver payloads to the surface of the Moon under the agency’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, further solidifying our position as a proven commercial contractor in lunar exploration,” said Steve Altemus, CEO of Intuitive Machines ( LUNR ).

“Our global team is on a path to provide essential lunar infrastructure services to NASA in a project that would allow the Company to retain ownership of the vehicle for commercial utilization during periods of non-NASA activity over approximately ten years of lunar surface activity.”

Intuitive Machines ( LUNR ) noted that its Moon Reusable Autonomous Crewed Exploration Rover (RACER) global team partners include AVL, Boeing, Michelin and Northrop Grumman. Those partners intend to provide a robust Lunar Terrain Vehicle design architecture with advanced power management, autonomous driving, communications and navigation systems for lunar exploration.

Intuitive Machines ( LUNR ) shares are up approximately 135% year-to-date. The stock rallied in anticipation of the company's IM-1 moon landing mission.

In February, Intuitive Machines ( LUNR ) became the first private company to land on the moon and brought the U.S. back to the moon for the first time since 1972.

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LUNR Price Action: Intuitive Machines ( LUNR ) shares were up 3.18% after-hours at $6.17 at the time of publication Wednesday, according to Benzinga Pro.