Mission: Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS)
Launch Vehicle: Atlas V
Launch Pad: Launch Complex 41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Launch Date: June 17, 2009 at 3:51 p.m. EDT (12:51 p.m. PDT)
Impact Date: Oct. 8, 2009 at approximately 10:30 UTC (3:30 a.m. PDT)
The satellite's primary mission is to search for water ice on the moon in a permanently shadowed crater near one of the lunar poles. LCROSS is a low-cost, accelerated-development, companion mission to NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO.
May 28
Encased in their payload fairing, LCROSS and LRO, are moved out of Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville and transported to Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. After arrival to the launch pad, LRO and LCROSS are mated with the Atlas V rocket inside the mobile service tower for launch.
May 27
Beginning of first week rehearsals for the LCROSS Mission and Science Operations teams. The rehearsals will simulate the first six days of flight starting five hours before launch, and ending just after lunar swingby. Teams will run on a 24 hour schedule until the the morning of June 1.
May 21
NASA will conduct a pre-launch news briefing for the LCROSS and LRO missions. The briefing is scheduled for 4 p.m. EDT from the the James Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, Washington.
May 15
LCROSS and LRO were encapsulated into their payload fairing at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility. The fairing is a molded structure that fits flush with the outside surface of the rocket and forms an aerodynamically smooth nose cone, protecting the spacecraft during launch and ascent
May 14
The Centaur upper and Atlas first stage rockets were rolled from the Vertical Integration Facility to Launch Complex-41 for a 'wet' dress rehearsal. The rockets were loaded with a full complement propellants including liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen and RP-1 fuel.
May 8
The LCROSS Flight Director's Blog is launched at http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blog/lcrossfdblog. Learn about the LCROSS mission from Flight Director Paul Tompkins.
April 30
The LCROSS/LRO Atlas V booster and Centaur upper stage rockets were mated in the the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 41.
April 27
The first stage of the Atlas V that will launch LCROSS and LRO into space was transferred from a hangar at the Atlas Space Operations Facility to the Vertical Integration Facility near Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 41.
April 24
The LCROSS spacecraft was loaded with 305.5kg of hydrazine fuel at the Astrotech Payload Processing Facility in Titusville, Fla.
Feb. 21
A Russian AH-124-100 aircraft arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's skid strip in Florida carrying the Centaur stage of the Atlas V rocket that will be used by the LCROSS mission as a kinetic impactor into a permanently shadowed lunar crater searching for possible water ice.
Feb. 20
NASA's LCROSS Shepherding Spacecraft arrives from Northrop Grumman's facility in Redondo Beach, Calif., at Astrotech near NASA's Kennedy Space Center in preparation for a June launch.
