Twin NASA Moon Probes Start New Year by Entering Lunar Orbit

by Mike Wall, SPACE.com Senior Writer

Date: 01 January 2012 Time: 05:05 PM ET

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An artist's depiction of NASA's Grail-A spacecraft arriving in lunar orbit on Dec. 31, 2011. CREDIT: NASA/JPL-Caltech View full size image

A pair of NASA spacecraft are ringing in the new year in grand style, with both now successfully circling the moon after journeying through space for more than three months.
The Grail-B probe entered lunar orbit today (Jan. 1) after firing its main engine at 5:05 p.m. EST (2205 GMT) in a 40-minute-long orbital-insertion burn, NASA officials said. It joins its twin spacecraft, Grail-A, which arrived at the moon yesterday evening (Dec. 31) after completing a similar maneuver.

MORE: http://www.space.com/14102-nasa-grail-spacecraft-moon-orbit-2012.html




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