GRAIL

Mission

State: Successful

Place: Moon

Operator: NASA / JPL

Date

Start:

Duration: 1 year, 3 months, 7 days, 9 hours

Mission Ending

"Life's like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending." - Jim Henson

Rocket

Rocket: Delta II 7920H-10 D-356

Kind: NASA / JPL

Manufacturer: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, LMSS

Mass: 307 kg (677 lb)

Launch Site: Cape Canaveral SLC-17B

Flyby

"Requesting permission for flyby." Maverick - Top Gun

Orbit

Reference System: Selenocentric

Lander

Place: Lunar

The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) was an American lunar science mission in NASA's Discovery Program which used high-quality gravitational field mapping of the Moon to determine its interior structure. The two small spacecraft GRAIL A (Ebb) and GRAIL B (Flow) were launched on 10 September 2011 aboard a single launch vehicle: the most-powerful configuration of a Delta II, the 7920H-10. GRAIL A separated from the rocket about nine minutes after launch, GRAIL B followed about eight minutes later. They arrived at their orbits around the Moon 25 hours apart. The first probe entered orbit on 31 December 2011 and the second followed on 1 January 2012. The two spacecraft impacted the Lunar surface on December 17, 2012.