LRO Enters Lunar Orbit (Highlights)
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, June 23, 2009.
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.
To see the full one hour video produced live during the orbit insertion burns, visit entry #10444
For More Information
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Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
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Video editor
- Stefanie Misztal (UMBC)
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Interviewees
- Cathy Peddie (NASA/GSFC)
- James Garvin (NASA/GSFC)
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Producers
- Andrew Freeberg (NASA/GSFC)
- Laura Motel (UMBC)
- Wade Sisler (NASA/GSFC)
Release date
This page was originally published on Tuesday, June 23, 2009.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:54 PM EDT.