Launch of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is a NASA robotic spacecraft launched on an Atlas V rocket together with the LCROSS impact probe. It was sent to the Moon to collect detailed information to prepare for future human and robotic missions, including mapping the surface in high resolution, finding safe landing sites and searching for resources such as water ice. Its cameras have photographed the landing sites of the Apollo missions, showing the tracks of the astronauts and the equipment they left behind, and have mapped the permanently shadowed craters near the lunar poles. Its measurements helped choose landing sites for later missions, including the Artemis programme. The orbiter has operated for far longer than its original plan of one year.

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