![]() Grail-A and Grail-B will fly in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field in unprecedented detail. 8 liftoff, the launch window opens at 5:37 a.m. Grail will be carried into space aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II Heavy rocket lifting off from Launch Complex-19 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The spacecraft will then be transported to the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for installation atop the rocket that will carry them toward the moon. Over the next four months at the Astrotech facility, the spacecraft will undergo final testing, fueling and packaging in the shroud that will protect them as the Delta II launch vehicle lifts them into space. Later this week, they will begin functional testing to verify their state of health after their ride on an Air Force transport jet from Colorado. The Grail twins, known as Grail-A and Grail-B, were removed from their shipping containers Monday, May 23. "We're only a few full moons away from a mission that will reveal clues not only into the history of the moon and Earth, but will provide important data for future lunar exploration." "NASA's lunar twins have arrived at Cape Canaveral," said Maria Zuber, Grail's principal investigator, based at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge. NASA's dynamic duo will orbit the moon to determine the structure of the lunar interior from crust to core and to advance understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon. The Two Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory spacecraft (Grail) were shipped from Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, to the Astrotech payload processing facility in Titusville, Fla., Friday, May 20. Pasadena, Ca (Spx) May 24 - NASA's Twin Lunar Probes Have Arrived In Florida To Begin Final Preparations For A Launch In Late Summer. ![]() NASA's Twin Craft Arrive in Florida for Moon Mission The mission will also answer longstanding questions about Earth's moon, and provide scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed. The Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission will fly nearly-identical spacecraft in tandem orbits around the moon for several months to measure its gravity field in unprecedented detail. The spacecraft were then transported to Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla. EDT at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility. ![]() The plane departed from Buckley Air Force Base near Denver and touched down at 7:40 p.m. "We look forward to preparing for launch and achieving total mission success on this important program."īoth of the 440-pound (200 kilograms) spacecraft were transported on an Air Force C-17 transport plane in an environmentally controlled container. ![]() "It has taken a great deal of dedication and hard work from the entire team to build two spacecraft simultaneously and achieve this delivery milestone on schedule and under budget," said John Henk, GRAIL program manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. "Building two spacecraft simultaneously brought some challenges, but I'm proud that we are delivering them to the launch site on schedule and under budget." "It has taken a great deal of dedication and hard work from the entire team to bring us to this moment," said John Henk, GRAIL program manager at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company. The lunar orbiters will fly 30 miles (50 kilometers) above the surface of the moon in precision formation to determine the structure of the lunar interior from crust to core and to advance understanding of the thermal evolution of the moon. The two vehicles will undergo four months of final testing and processing in preparation for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a United Launch Alliance Delta II Heavy launch vehicle in early September. NASA's twin GRAIL spacecraft were delivered by its builder Lockheed Martin to Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Twin GRAIL Spacecraft to Launch Site by Lockheed Martin ![]()
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