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| GRAIL launch photographed from Cape Canaveral |
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA’s twin lunar Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) probes were launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on September10, 2011.
GRAIL-A is scheduled to arrive in lunar orbit beginning at 4:21 p.m. EST on Saturday December 31, 2011 and GRAIL-B on Sunday January 1, 2012 beginning at 5:05 p.m. EST.
After confirmation they are in orbit and operating nominally, the two solar-powered spacecraft will fly in tandem orbits to answer longstanding questions about the moon and give scientists a better understanding of how Earth and other rocky planets in the solar system formed.
