LADEE Launches on Mission to the Moon
Source: NASA
In an attempt to answer prevailing questions about our moon, NASA launched a probe at 11:27 p.m. EDT Friday, Sept. 6, from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Va. The Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) is a robotic mission, managed by NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., that will orbit the moon to gather detailed information about the structure and composition of the thin lunar atmosphere and determine whether dust is being lofted into the lunar sky. A thorough understanding of these characteristics of our nearest celestial neighbor will help researchers understand other bodies in the solar system, such as large asteroids, Mercury, and the moons of outer planets.
Read more: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wallops/home/index.html
I saw it from the beach in Connecticut. It was pretty awesome!
edbermac
(15,947 posts)longship
(40,416 posts)It was awesome.
I witnessed a night Shuttle launch from the tenth floor of my hotel in Tampa one night. I could see it all the way across the state.
Oh! If only I could have been at Cocoa Beach for an Apollo Moon launch. That would have to be an unforgettable experience. (I was tempted to make a sexual allusion, but I resisted.)
R&K
A Shuttle launch... awesome.
I never got to see one of those. This was my first one.
onehandle
(51,122 posts)You don't know the meaning of 'rumble' until you hear/feel one.
krispos42
(49,445 posts)You lucky shit!
longship
(40,416 posts)It's called tummy wubble.
You feel it as much as hear it. I've experienced it in a certain opera house, but never from the Cape. It's gotta be orders of magnitude more magnificent.
Amiright?
longship
(40,416 posts)Even all the way across the state.
MannyGoldstein
(34,589 posts)Neat!
FailureToCommunicate
(14,026 posts)Inquiring minds want to know.
krispos42
(49,445 posts)...however, you could have fit the entirety of their brainpower in there along with the probe.