NASA’s latest robotic creation was launched from Virginia last night. The LADEE spacecraft shot to the moon, embarking on its circular trip to the moon! Where it will make three huge laps around Earth before getting close enough to pop into lunar orbit, Hit the jump for the video of its launch!
The LADEE spacecraft was launched late last night in Virginia and was projected to have been visible in southern states surrounding South Carolina, Northern states including Maine. Pittsburg was able to enjoy the rare light show as well!
LADEE pronounced “LA’dee” will need a full month before it actually lands on the moon, it is scheduled to arrive on October 6th. The space probe is the size of a small car and is “charged with studying the lunar atmosphere and dust, soared aboard an unmanned Minotaur rocket”.
“There’s no question that as we send humans farther out into the solar system, certainly to Mars,” that laser communications will be needed to send high-definition and 3-D video, said NASA’s science mission chief, John Grunsfeld, a former astronaut who worked on the Hubble Space Telescope.”
The $280 million moon orbiting mission is set to travel around the moon three times before it explodes in a suicide plunge.
“All but one of NASA’s previous moon missions since 1959, including the manned Apollo flights of the late 1960s and early 1970s, originated from Cape Canaveral. The most recent were the twin Grail spacecraft launched almost exactly two years ago. The military-NASA Clementine rocketed away from Southern California in 1994”
**Check out the video of the launch below**
Via HuffPost
