LRO Successfully Enters Lunar Orbit - Behind the Scenes at Goddard
This picture was taken in the Goddard Space Flight Center Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Mission Operation Control Center during the critical Lunar Orbit Insertion burn on June 23, 2009.
After a four and a half day journey from the Earth, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, successfully entered orbit around the moon. Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., confirmed the spacecraft's lunar orbit insertion at 6:27 a.m. EDT Tuesday. During transit to the moon, engineers performed a mid-course correction to get the spacecraft in the proper position to reach its lunar destination. Since the moon is always moving, the spacecraft shot for a target point ahead of the moon. When close to the moon, LRO used its rocket motor to slow down until the gravity of the moon caught the spacecraft in lunar orbit.
Credit: NASA/Goddard/Pat Izzo
Image Number:
Date: June 23, 2009
LRO Successfully Enters Lunar Orbit - Behind the Scenes at Goddard
This picture was taken in the Goddard Space Flight Center Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Mission Operation Control Center during the critical Lunar Orbit Insertion burn on June 23, 2009.
After a four and a half day journey from the Earth, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, successfully entered orbit around the moon. Engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., confirmed the spacecraft's lunar orbit insertion at 6:27 a.m. EDT Tuesday. During transit to the moon, engineers performed a mid-course correction to get the spacecraft in the proper position to reach its lunar destination. Since the moon is always moving, the spacecraft shot for a target point ahead of the moon. When close to the moon, LRO used its rocket motor to slow down until the gravity of the moon caught the spacecraft in lunar orbit.
Credit: NASA/Goddard/Pat Izzo
Image Number:
Date: June 23, 2009