LRO and LCROSS Reach the Moon

NASA confirmed that LRO achieved orbit at about 6:27 ET on Tuesday June 23, 2009. Its orbit is highly elliptical and ranges from between 124 miles (200 km) and to 1,863 miles (3,000 km) above the Moon's surface.

The orbiter will continue in this orbit for about 2 months while scientists check its systems. It will then move to a polar orbit that passes just 31 miles over the lunar surface. LRO will stay in this low orbit for a year as it searches for potential landing spots for astronauts.

LRO is expected to provide more data about the Moon than any previous Moon mission has provided.

LCROSS took its first photos of the Moon on Tuesday during a lunar flyby in which it came within 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) of the Moon's surface. The spacecraft then began orbiting the Earth-Moon system. It will circle the Earth every 37 days.

In October, LCROSS will crash a Centaur rocket into a crater at the Moon's south pole and search for water ice in the resulting debris.

Within the next few weeks, LRO will be beaming its own pictures back to Earth.

NASA is hoping to use its new Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle and Altair lunar landers to send astronauts back to the Moon by 2020.