Developing: Pakistani Plane Escorted by UK Fighter Jets — 2 Men Arrested

Doc Thompson’s 24-hour radio marathon, ‘#24forok,’ continues until 9 am ET — Listen Live!

Science

Here’s the Last Video From the GRAIL Spacecraft Before They Crashed Into the Moon

Jan. 11, 2013 2:34pm Liz Klimas

Last month, NASA crashed its twin spacecraft from its GRAIL mission into the moon, but not before it turning on the cameras for some final footage as it orbited around the lunar surface.

NASA recently released the video of shots taken with the on-board camera just days before the spacecraft went out of commission.

NASA Releases GRAIL Missions Twin Spacecrafts Final Video

(Image: NASA/JPL/YouTube screenshots)

Here’s more about the footage from the video’s description:

This video of the moon was taken by the NASA GRAIL mission’s MoonKAM (Moon Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students) camera aboard the Ebb spacecraft on Dec. 14, 2012.

At the time the images were taken, the spacecraft were about 6 miles above the northern hemisphere of the moon’s far side, in the vicinity of the Jackson impact crater. This imagery was acquired as part of a final checkout of spacecraft equipment prior to its planned impact on a mountain near the moon’s north pole on Dec. 17.

Check out the surface of the moon from spacecraft’s perspective:

The spacecraft dubbed “Ebb” and “Flo,” which were launched in 2011 as part of the work conducted by the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission, made impact with a mountain near the moon’s north pole on Dec. 17, 2012. The impact site was named after Sally Ride, who had worked on the GRAIL mission.

“Sally was all about getting the job done, whether it be in exploring space, inspiring the next generation, or helping make the GRAIL mission the resounding success it is today,” GRAIL principal investigator Maria Zuber of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge said in a statement. “As we complete our lunar mission, we are proud we can honor Sally Ride’s contributions by naming this corner of the moon after her.”

According to NASA, the pair was intentionally landed on the moon because they didn’t have sufficient altitude or fuel to continue with the mission.

(H/T: Gizmodo)

In CONTROL, Glenn Beck presents a passionate, fact-based case for guns that reveals why gun control isn’t really about controlling guns at all; it’s about controlling us. Find out more HERE.

Back to The Blaze »

Comments (39)

ScottR63
Posted on January 12, 2013 at 8:53pm
put obummer and all the democrats on board this thing and send it off. This was a waste of a perfectly good space craft without out them on board

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
jhubbard
Posted on January 12, 2013 at 3:34pm
What about the “face” seen from second 29 – 31? Pretty cool…

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
ScottR63
Posted on January 12, 2013 at 1:57pm
Where are my 3 posts on this story blaze??????????????????????????????

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Mr.buff1959
Posted on January 12, 2013 at 1:43am
Some people like cupcakes. I myself prefer the muffin.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Wisdomseeker
  Posted on January 12, 2013 at 12:54pm
  Dr. Steven Greer might add that NASA is just a cover story. Behind the curtain at OZ there has been technology that makes the rocket childs play. Black programs have for 40 years been using anti gravity propulsion. Half the UFO sightings are ships made from black programs. We’ve already had men on mission to Mars.
  Mr. Tesla gave them all the power they would need to run the world………Disclosure Project
  
  Report this comment
Bluto_Ruffian
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 9:44pm
In 1979 I photographed the total solar eclipse in Canada for a SPECIFIC reason. I took 2 years to prepare for this expedition because the winter temperatures in the umbra zone were expected to be as low as minus 40F. Precision film cameras of the time could not tolerate such low temperatures. However, the photos that I took got published in some international publications as testimony to good preparation and some of the best photos of this event.

The specific “reason” for this effort was to verify, for myself, why features on the dark side (facing the Earth) of the moon are NOT visible during totality. There is more than enough of “earthshine” to make the moon’s features visible but, it is not. You will not find a single photo, taken of a total solar eclipse (single exposure), that shows anything on the surface of the moon during totality. There is over 100 years of flawless photography on this subject and none will show you what you should expect to see.

I now know the reason for this phenomenon and it will shatter the very foundations of “science” once it is learned. It is not a trivial thing to explain but, is simple to understand if you discard centuries of erroneous teachings about the universe.

Another question: why are the tides not any higher during this epic alignment? After all, the GRAIL mission was all about gravity, no?

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- kevinj319
  Posted on January 12, 2013 at 1:35am
  There is not enough light reflected from Earth to make out the moon’s features.
  
  It doesn’t take a solar eclipse to learn that the Earth does not reflect enough light back to the moon to sufficiently illuminate it. You can observe this with every new moon.
  
  Report this comment
- G-WHIZ
  Posted on January 12, 2013 at 10:31am
  The megga-light of the sun arround the moonsurface is a huge [contrast-ratio] which human-eye and esspecially FILM can NOT reproduce. The best film-process could not even “see” a black-lab-dog on a black-leather chair! Only his/her eyes showed-up…and a vague-outline of the dog. At a glance, the eye could see the dog-on-chair easilly! To our “eye” and film the “earth-light” re-reflection is undetectable. Even the earth-atmosphere dispersions filter-out most of the re-re-reflections(sun-to-earth-through-atmsopher-to-moonsurface-and-back-to earth-again-through atmosphere)…through atmosphere-twice-filtered! The moon also has a very-small atmosphere which refracts some of the sunlight as it passes by. Because of the eclips, there is much less sunlight returnning/reflected off the earth decreasing the light-avalable to “light-up” our side of the moon and thus increasing the contrast-ratio beyond our abillities to recorde/see the “our”-side of the moon.
  Of course, one hasto be a HAAAAAVAD-GRADD with oodles of degrees and tenure to be “approved” as legit-to-comment. I’m only a highschool-grad with a “want-to-know” and do my own postulations as to what is occurring. (Soooory! I used a ‘college’ word). :>)
  
  Report this comment
- Bluto_Ruffian
  Posted on January 12, 2013 at 6:17pm
  @KEVINJ319: Bingo! Check out the exposure stats from missions on the Moon where pictures were taken of the Earth. There is PLENTY of light from the Earth to illuminate the dark portion. The umbra and penumbra are too small to reduce “earthshine” with any significance… How about the the other question?
  
  @G-WHIZ: Two of the cameras (Hasselblad 500EL) were equipped with a filter mask SPECIFICALLY to reduce the contrast ratio <2:1. A 36-frame bracket of exposures (using TRI-X PAN in one and AEROCHROME in the other) yielded no joy. I knew EXACTLY what I was looking for and was geared-up with 13 cameras to research this problem. As above… how about the other question?
  
  Report this comment
- Bluto_Ruffian
  Posted on January 12, 2013 at 8:45pm
  In 1977 I was tasked with the photography of a small statue of a porcelain horse for the the cover of a financial report of an art/precious metals dealer in the Midwest USA. The statue in question was about 25 inches long by about 18 inches high. It was valued at $22,000 (1977) as it was the only one in existence! The horse was exquisitely detailed and mounted on a burled walnut base. The challenge was getting the detail of the (pure, matte white) horse to show up in professional transparency film of the era… One’s eye could see the exquisite detail of the horse but, when photographed the horse was always washed out… no detail. To make a long story short, it required a 2-step process using two different films in the same camera during the session. Ektachrome… initially to get the colors of the base and then, Aerochrome (Ekta-Aero-Infrared) to capture the contrast detail of the flat-white horse using three different color-temperature lighting setups… Stacked the four transparencies and made a single (contact) exposure for the production piece. Two weeks of work with a lot of time in the lab! The end result was magnificent. The client gave me a $100 bonus! I’ve been a professional photographer since 1969 and was a consultant for the first version (MAC only) of Adobe Photoshop. Never been to Harvard or any other outside of community college… Just lots of practical experience. The findings will be published soon. (C:)
  
  Report this comment
Melika
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 6:58pm
By the headline I was sure there were astronauts in the spacecraft, then I remembered this is the Blaze and it must be a Liz Klamas article. Yep, sure enough it is and sure enough the very first sentence is F-ed up. So is a whole bunch of grammar. Is she a 6 year old, because I would be pretty impressed with this writing if she were and could understand keeping her on the payroll.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- asybot12
  Posted on January 14, 2013 at 7:01am
  Maybe liz was one of the young high school students that worked together with Sally Ride years ago before she passed away?
  
  Report this comment
commonsenseguy
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 5:03pm
where are all the save the planet nut jobs, our government just littered on the moon again, not only that what about all those dangerous chemicals that we know nothing about that is just left there to cause all kinds of environmental problems, i mean what about all those innocent aliens just as with all the space junk that is floating around in space that from time to time crash back to earth, the government and al gore are using the moon and space as their on dumping ground,where are you at with your so call save the planet b.s. everything here on earth you bitch about but when the morons you help elect decide to cause environmental disasters on the moon,will that is just a okay because you trust them, just like the media who is a bunch of lairs,just like gay rights who will let obama slide even when he is in bed with al gore the saudi government { who beat and jail gays } and the women’s rights groups who let them slide even thought the same groups allow for rape of innocent women and young girls, but as long as it is a democrat in charge then you will let them slide,but a republican,well, you would be out bitching, just another example of how two faced you and your democommie buddies are.so letting the government cause environmental disasters on the moon is just okay, because you don’t want to make obama and his buddies look bad.you all are abunch of two faced bottom sucking mud waddlers.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Two Sheds
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 6:41pm
  Relax dude! There are no stars so it’s a fake video.
  
  Report this comment
BasketFullOfPuppies
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 4:53pm
Why does the video look like it was shot with an iPhone?

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
MrKnowItAll
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 4:41pm
No Guns on the Moon.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Misdirection
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 4:52pm
  you think they would do a flyby of the American flag… Little photo op. As millions of dollars went crashing into the moon. Hope they plan on using that junk in future missions.
  
  Report this comment
Diane TX
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:52pm
Still testing … testing … testing argh!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Armyof One
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:41pm
I could have sworn I saw Alice as it zoomed by…

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
KickinBack
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:41pm
That’s the moon. That’s just a close-up of the streets of my town. I can tell by the pot holes.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- KickinBack
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 4:43pm
  That’s (not) the moon. I hate correcting myself.
  
  Report this comment
etxdad
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:23pm
That would make a cool screensaver

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
etxdad
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:22pm
That would make a cool screensaver.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
thegreatcarnac
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:22pm
The moon is sooooo…..um……moonlike.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
TheBurningTruth
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:16pm
Wow! It’s like being in a time-machine set to 1964 when Ranger-7 impacted the moon for the first time. I can easily see the progress NASA is making 50 years later…

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
athiest-infedel
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:12pm
It has to be fake, did’nt god destroy the tower of babel because of mans arrogance reaching into his realm, that makes every flight into space a lie and must be fake or god would destroy every spacecraft.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- SacredHonor1776
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:15pm
  Nutter
  
  Report this comment
- brother_ed
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:29pm
  @ATHIEST-INFEDEL
  
  Not even close.
  
  The effect of being off course by only a degree or two become more apparent with the passing of time; the more time that passes, the greater the distance form the target.
  
  My guess is that it’s been quite awhile since you’ve studied the Bible.
  
  Report this comment
- Alaskaninfidel
  Posted on January 14, 2013 at 2:26am
  What he hell is an “infedel”?
  
  Report this comment
Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:09pm
Liz,
The spacecraft were dubbed Ebb and Flow.
Thanks

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
The-Monk
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:09pm
Posting/replying to page one (only) looks fixed now…. : )

Anyone else still having problems on “page one only”?

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
Anonymous T. Irrelevant
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:07pm
I would have thought that by now, we would know all there was to know about our moon. I wonder what this out-reach program cost us?
I am kind of on the fence with this, because I think kids should be excited and fascinated with space exploration. Better to have astrophysicists than welfare mommies.

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- SacredHonor1776
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:15pm
  Dude he Moon might end up having to be the next America, Galt’s Gulch. Thr place to escape thr collectivists and create a new nation of liberty and freedom. Granted resources and food supply might be a pain! As would any free market trading with the old Earth.
  
  Report this comment
- THX-1138
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:58pm
  We must find the Nazi’s on the Dark Side before they attack!
  
  http://ironsky.net/
  
  Report this comment
The-Monk
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:06pm
♫ This is Major Tom to ground control….. ♫

Report this comment
Log in to ReplyReply
- Eastinfection
  Posted on January 11, 2013 at 3:20pm
  the papers want to know who’s shirts you wear.
  
  Report this comment
DeadBuffalo
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 2:49pm
FAKE! Hollywood celebrities told me so.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
DeadBuffalo
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 2:47pm
FAKE! Hollywood told me so!

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply
MCON29
Posted on January 11, 2013 at 2:44pm
Where’s the cheese? I think I’ve been lied to. Again.

Report this comment
Log in to Reply Reply

It appears that you have Javascript Disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser preferences for a better user experience on TheBlaze. You can not comment without Javascript enabled.