Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter lives up to part of name - June 23, 2009
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has reached the Moon.
“I am now 450km above the moon....” said the probe’s Twitter feed at 11.00 UK time today.
Minutes later it noted, “The moon has capture me! I am there! :-) … I am now in orbit about the moon!! :-)”.
LRO is orbiting; now let's have some recon! Perhaps someone should also update the feed’s location information so it no longer says ‘Greenbelt, MD’. (For more on LRO see Nature: Moon mission tackles water question.)
“The engines have been burning now for 15, 20 minutes,” Mike Wargo, NASA’s chief lunar scientist, told NASA TV just moments ago. “We’ve been captured stably by the moon. We’re there.”
Later today you can watch live video of the lunar swingby of sister mission LCROSS (Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite), live from 2:10 pm GMT. Till then, here’s a video of the takeoff of both LCROSS and LRO (hat tip: Bad Astronomy).
Comments
Very excited 2 watch DREAMS, powered by years of HARD WORK, ascend through the heavens successfully! Congrats LRO team! So proud of your awesome accomplishments! We are with you all the way. (ibmlucia-retired GSFC family)
Posted by: Lu Lorenzano | June 23, 2009 03:07 PM