Image From Nasa

Trio of Galaxies Mix It Up

A small spiral galaxy is caught between two elliptical galaxies, in a cluster called the Hickson Compact Group 90. As the elliptical galaxies continue to stretch, they will eventually swallow the smaller galaxy.

Image Credit: NASA, ESA and R. Sharples (University of Durham)

Preparing Endeavour

In this image, taken June 14, workers on Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A prepare to remove the 7-inch quick disconnect and flight seal from the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate, or GUCP, on space shuttle Endeavour's external fuel tank. Teams are removing the hardware to change out seals in the internal connection points. The GUCP is the overboard vent to the pad and the flare stack where the vented hydrogen is burned off. 

On June 12, a hydrogen leak caused the STS-127 mission to be scrubbed. Endeavour is scheduled to launch on its STS-127 mission on June 17, 2009, at 5:40 a.m. EDT. 
Image Credit: NASA/Tim Jacobs

Shooting for the Moon

NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, rolled aboard their Atlas V rocket to the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida yesterday morning in preparation for launch today. 

LRO is scheduled for a one-year exploration mission at a polar orbit of about 31 miles, or 50 kilometers, the closest any spacecraft has orbited the moon. Its primary objective is to conduct investigations to prepare for future explorations of the moon. LCROSS will search for water ice on the moon by sending the spent upper-stage Centaur rocket to impact part of a polar crater in permanent shadows. LCROSS will fly into the plume of dust left by the impact and measure the properties before also colliding with the lunar surface.

Image Credit: ULA

LRO and LCROSS Launch on Lunar Journey

An United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket blasts off with NASA's LRO/LRCOSS mission from Space Launch Complex-41, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., at 5:32 p.m. EDT on June 18, 2009. The mission is expected to relay more information about the lunar environment than any other previous mission to the moon.

Image Credit: Pat Corkery, United Launch Alliance

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