LADEE Launches on Mission to the Moon

[krispos42]

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

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I saw it from the beach in Connecticut. It was pretty awesome!

[edbermac]

1. Big disappointment is that it wasn't manned and headed for Mars

[longship]

2. Alas, here in Western rural Michigan I had to settle for the NASA stream.

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

[krispos42]

3. Nice...

A Shuttle launch... awesome.

I never got to see one of those. This was my first one.

[onehandle]

4. I've seen two shuttle launches in Florida.

You don't know the meaning of 'rumble' until you hear/feel one.

[krispos42]

6. Oh, man

You lucky shit!

[longship]

8. In orchestral music with a large orchestra...

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]

5. I didn't hear it. But it was freaking bright.

Even all the way across the state.

[MannyGoldstein]

7. Saw it from Boston

Neat!

[FailureToCommunicate]

9. I missed the details...how many House Repubs fit in the payload exactly?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[krispos42]

10. Only a couple of House Repubes...

...however, you could have fit the entirety of their brainpower in there along with the probe.