Sept 10, 2011

George H Diller Kennedy Space Center, Fla 321-867-2468 george h diller@nasa gov

Dwayne Brown NASA Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1726 dwayne c brown@nasa gov

DC Agle Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif 818-393-9011 david c agle@jpl nasa gov

Caroline McCall Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 617-253-1682 cmcall5@mit edu

RELEASE: 11-293

NASA LAUNCHES MISSION TO STUDY MOON FROM CRUST TO CORE

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla -- NASA's twin lunar Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) spacecraft lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 9:08 a m EDT Saturday to study the moon in unprecedented detail

GRAIL-A is scheduled to reach the moon on New Year's Eve 2011, while GRAIL-B will arrive New Year's Day 2012 The two solar-powered spacecraft will fly in tandem orbits around the moon to measure its gravity field GRAIL will answer longstanding questions about the moon and give scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed

"If there was ever any doubt that Florida's Space Coast would continue to be open for business, that thought was drowned out by the roar of today's GRAIL launch," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden "GRAIL and many other exciting upcoming missions make clear that NASA is taking its next big leap into deep space exploration, and the space industry continues to provide the jobs and workers needed to support this critical effort "

The spacecraft were launched aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket GRAIL mission controllers acquired a signal from GRAIL-A at 10:29 a m GRAIL-B's signal was eight minutes later The telemetry downlinked from both spacecraft indicates they have deployed their solar panels and are operating as expected

"Our GRAIL twins have Earth in their rearview mirrors and the moon in their sights," said David Lehman, GRAIL project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif "The mission team is ready to test, analyze and fine-tune our spacecraft over the next three-and-a-half months on our journey to lunar orbit "

The straight-line distance from Earth to the moon is approximately 250,000 miles (402,336 kilometers) NASA's Apollo moon crews needed approximately three days to cover that distance However, each spacecraft will take approximately 3 5 months and cover more than 2 5 million miles (4 million kilometers) to arrive This low-energy trajectory results in the longer travel time The size of the launch vehicle allows more time for spacecraft checkout and time to update plans for lunar operations The science collection phase for GRAIL is expected to last 82 days

"Since the earliest humans looked skyward, they have been fascinated by the moon," said GRAIL principal investigator Maria Zuber from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge "GRAIL will take lunar exploration to a new level, providing an unprecedented characterization of the moon's interior that will advance understanding of how the moon formed and evolved "

JPL manages the GRAIL mission It is part of the Discovery Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver built the spacecraft Launch management for the mission is the responsibility of NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida

For more information about GRAIL, visit:

http://www nasa gov/grail

and

http://grail nasa gov

-end-

To subscribe to the list, send a message to: ksc-subscribe@newsletters nasa gov To remove your address from the list, send a message to: ksc-unsubscribe@newsletters nasa gov

The following information is a reminder of your current mailing list subscription:

You are subscribed to the following list: [list_name]

using the following email: example@example.com

You may automatically unsubscribe from this list at any time by visiting the following URL:

https://aus-city com/cgi-bin/dada/mail cgi/u/STS_ISS_STATUS/example/example com/

If the above URL is inoperable, make sure that you have copied the entire address Some mail readers will wrap a long URL and thus break this automatic unsubscribe mechanism

You may also change your subscription by visiting this list's main screen:

<[program_url]/list/[list]>

If you're still having trouble, please contact the list owner at:

<mailto:[list_owner_email]>

The following physical address is associated with this mailing list:

[physical_address]