Snapshot: NASA Fires Twin Lasers at the Moon Hundreds of moon
lovers flocked to skywatching weekend skywatching events to gaze
at Earth's nearest neighbor, but only at one gathering did
visitors get a chance to see NASA fire lasers at the moon.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., opened the
doors of its Laser Ranging Facility to the public Saturday
(Sept. 18) in a rare night of tours to show visitors how it
tracks the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter around the moon. The
event was one of nearly 400 gatherings around the world making
up International Observe the Moon Night aimed at spurring public
interest in the moon. This photo was taken by photographer Wade
Sisler at the Goddard Space Flight Center. At the Laser Ranging
Facility, engineers fire a laser 28 times per second across
nearly 250,000 miles at the minivan-sized Lunar Reconnaissance
Orbiter, a spacecraft moving at nearly 3,600 miles per hour as
it orbits the moon. By knowing the precise location of the Lunar
Reconnaissance Orbiter, sci