NASA readying moon mission spacecraft

GREENBELT, Md., April 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says it has started installing instruments aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbitor, or LRO, that will examine the moon.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration says its engineers and technicians are working 24 hours a day at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., to ready the spacecraft for testing and eventual launch later this year.

"The spacecraft really is coming together now," said Cathy Peddie, LRO deputy project manager at Goddard. "We are in the space assembly homestretch and making solid progress. You can begin to see what LRO will look like in all of its glory."

Four of six instruments have been mated to the spacecraft, including a cosmic ray telescope, a mapping instrument that will scan the lunar surface in the far ultraviolet spectrum and a radiometer that will measure surface as well as sub-surface temperatures from orbit, thereby identifying cold traps, potential ice deposits and even landing hazards.

The satellite is to be launched from the Kennedy Space Center later this year.