Fly me to the Moon

[The Baron]

Kaguya Spacecraft Crashes into the Moon

Japan's Kaguya spacecraft crashed into the Moon last week, as planned. Officially named the Selenological and Engineering Explorer (SELENE), the spacecraft was given the nickname Kaguya after the princess in the Japanese folklore story The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter. Pictured above is a movie taken by Kaguya during the last orbit of its twenty-month lunar mission. A desolate, hilly, and cratered terrain passes underneath as the spacecraft barely clears a few peaks. At the movie's end, the spacecraft disappears into darkness near GILL crater. Robotic SELENE carried thirteen scientific instruments and two HDTV cameras. The groundbreaking mission took data on lunar topology and composition that are being used to better understand the origin and history of Earth's unique and ancient companion. Data and images from Kayuga and the recently launched Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter could be used to choose good locations to land future Moon-exploring astronauts.

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090629.html

[Quickfire]

Yeah the moon is gonna get busy in the next months/years, China, India, Japan, USA all rolling out there. Back in 1996 the US were testing their new space-based lasers on the dark side of the moon so noone could see their capabilities, probably some irradiated dust left over from that.

Anyway, in the Copernicus crater, is waiting for all of them.