Planetary Society logo
  • “Exploration is in our nature.” - Carl Sagan

Liftoff of Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter

Liftoff of Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter
Liftoff of Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft blasts off for the Moon in 2009. Also aboard the Atlas V rocket was LCROSS, the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite. Mission planners deliberately crashed the rocket’s upper stage into the Moon's kicking up a cloud of debris and water vapor. LCROSS flew through the plume and detected the water before impacting a few minutes later. NASA