An Atlas V rocket, under the auspices of United Launch Alliance, will launch NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)/Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission on a mission to investigate the moon — the launch will occur on June 17th from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.

This dual-spacecraft mission will gather and return a wealth of lunar information in preparation for future manned mission to the moon. LRO is a lunar orbiter that will look for potential resources, safe landing sites and characterize the lunar radiation environment. LCROSS will confirm the presence or absence of water ice on the moon. As a unique element of this mission, the Centaur will actually impact the moon. After five days of flight, both will enter into an elongated lunar orbit where LCROSS will eventually separate from Centaur. In the October timeframe, the Centaur will then crash into a permanently shadowed crater near the moon’s polar region. The impact will create a plume of debris that LCROSS will fly through, relaying data back to Earth before impacting the moon itself.