GRAIL Spacecraft Separation

NASA's Twin GRAIL spacecraft head for their lunar mission aboard a Delta II rocket.

[NASAKennedy]

The spacecraft are not going directly to the moon; they will travel about 2.6 million miles through deep space before going into lunar orbit. They are taking that course, called a low-energy approach, so they don't have to burn much fuel to slow down to go into orbit around the moon.

[TheSataraid]

@NASAKennedy What is the G load of this mission compared to that of the Space? This launch looks to be far quicker. Just curious. Thank you.

[icannotfly]

the distance-holding technique you guys use here could be used to build a massive space-based telescope, right?

[onefugowie]

@bishop51807 i have always wondered why we didnt make a base on the moon instead of the ISS

any ideas

[MooCowMama]

I am a little jealous that the GRAIL Tweeps only have to wait 3.5 months for "their" spacecraft to reach their destination... we Juno Tweeps gotta wait five years! ;)

[DJLad]

Your all so busy, but you still upload vids to YouTube. Dedication!

[JeraldRJ]

Go Team USA!

We live in the greatest nation. Amazing what we can do.

[bctcivic]

All the billions of dollars for these space crafts and wouldn't you think they could afford more than a 240p camera? Put a goPro on that shit!

[bishop]

Their going to remap the moon right? so you know what that means ladies an gents, theres going to be a human lunar in a few years soon. NASA always collects data early and overtime before they do something new or take a major risk like going back to the moon.