This image shows the Minotaur V rocket that will carry NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) on a pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Va.
This image shows the Minotaur V rocket that will carry NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) on a pad at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Va.
LADEE, managed by NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., is scheduled for launch at 11:27 p.m. EDT on Sept. 6 from Pad 0B at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, at Wallops. LADEE is a robotic mission that will orbit the moon to gather detailed information about the lunar atmosphere, conditions near the surface and environmental influences on lunar dust. A thorough understanding of these characteristics will address long-standing unknowns, and help scientists understand other planetary bodies as well.
Image credit: NASA EDGE