LRO and LCROSS was launched yesterday, in what appears to be a picture-perfect launch. LRO will reach the Moon Tuesday 23. June, and will start conducting its scientific experiments after a short commissioning phase. LCROSS will take a slightly different trajectory, and will impact the Moon 9. October.

The launch has been widely reported in international media, here are a few random links: USA, Germany, UK, France, Norway, Australia. I’ll add more links as I come across them.

At 06:22 IST Wednesday morning India successfully launched its first lunar spacecraft, Chandrayaan-1.  Riding on top of a PSLV-11C rocket the spacecraft was inserted in a orbit around the Earth, before it will start its trip towards the Moon. It will be inserted in a Moon orbit in two weeks, and then gradually lower its final altitude to 100 km.

When the final orbit is reached Chandrayaan-1′s main task will be to:

• To place an unmanned spacecraft in an orbit around the moon
• To conduct mineralogical and chemical mapping of the lunar surface
• To upgrade the technological base in the country

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Take a look at this 3d video recorded by Kaguya - the quality is awsome! Here are a few links:

• http://wms.selene.jaxa.jp/data/jpn/tc/012/tycho_20mbps.html
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5vLFHzgfrY

Enjoy!