Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
LOS ANGELES (AP) - NASA's latest moon mission is about to meet its end.
Twin spacecraft are poised Monday to hit a mountain near the moon's north pole after nearly a year in orbit. NASA planned this crash to avoid striking the Apollo landing sites or any other place on the moon with special importance.
The spacecraft known as Ebb and Flow have been measuring the moon's gravity to better understand its interior and early history. To collect data, they've had to circle low above the lunar surface. They're running out of fuel so NASA will command them to hit the surface.
Since this will occur on the dark side of the moon, the space agency says skygazers on Earth won't be able to see it.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
