Jul 2, 2009
Posted by Ray Katz in NASA, current, moon
First photos from NASA’s first moon probe in 11 years
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is on a trip to the moon—and sending back its first pictures.
Would it be silly to say that these images of that gray slagheap orbiting the earth are beautiful? To me, in a strangely stark way, they are.
The LRO orbits the moon at about 30 miles altitude. That’s half the orbital height of the Apollo command module. And the new spacecraft has 21st century technology cameras. So, the images are closer and sharper. And because these images were taken along the terminator, that is where day meets night on the lunar surface, the contrasts are dramatic.
The only thing missing is fresh footprints.
NASA probe sends fresh lunar images
