Europe's 1st lunar mission reaches moon

[Judi Lynn]

Europe's 1st lunar mission reaches moon
By DAVID McHUGH, Associated Press Writer
33 minutes ago

DARMSTADT, Germany - Europe's first spacecraft to the moon ended its three-year mission Sunday by crashing into the lunar surface in a volcanic plane called the Lake of Excellence, to a round of applause in the mission control room in Germany.

Hitting at 1 1/4 miles per second, the impact of the SMART-1 spacecraft was expected to leave a 3-yard-by-10-yard crater and send dust miles above the surface. Observatories watched the event from Earth and scientists hoped the cloud of dust and debris would provide clues to the geologic composition of the site.

"That's it — we are in the Lake of Excellence," said spacecraft operations chief Octavio Camino as applause broke out in mission control in Darmstadt, Germany. "We have landed."

Minutes later, officials showed off a picture captured by an observatory in Hawaii displaying a bright flash from the impact.
(snip/...)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060903/ap_on_sc/europe_moon_mission

[hughee99]

1. "We have landed"?

Is crashing into the surface at 1 1/4 miles per second and leaving a 3x10 yard crater considered "landing"? It sounds like this was their intention, so I don't fault them for anything, but maybe "landing" isn't the appropriate word.

[Judi Lynn]

2. He couldn't sound as proud claiming "We have crashed!" n/t

[hughee99]

3. How about "Mission Accomplished"

at least it would be accurate here.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Absolutely!It would also give the expression some dignity it lost earlier.

[Kutjara]

4. Very true! The next time I smash into the back of the garage...

...at about 4000 mph, I'm going to say, "honey, I'm home!"

[merwin]

8. LOL

Thanks for the laugh

[bananas]

7. Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing

and since the earth-based mission controllers could walk away from it, it was good landing!

[951-Riverside]

5. Crashing into moons & planets is the only thing the ESA is good at :D

[eShirl]

9. excellent!

[lastknowngood]

10. That means they can hit a moving target with a missile. Which

means any future Offensive weapons established there are vulnerable.

[hogwyld]

11. Remember the good 'ol days

When we could do this stuff in our sleep. Alas, our schools suck, we waste so much on worthless wars, and we have fundies saying that dog forbids scientific thought and reasoning. Scotty, beam me up!

[Cobalt Violet]

12. "Lake Excellence"?

How much is the beach front property?

[SquireJons]

13. Kings Land Grant

It's free! All you have to do is develop the property with a minimum investment of $10,000 and you can have up to 1,000,000 square miles of beautiful Lake of Excellence shore line property. Call you contractor today.

Some restrictions apply.