LADEE mission on Ops. All criteria for LADEE

impact verification have been met. Operating

LADEE was the definition of a team effort and all

of you should be extremely proud of our collective

accomplishment. And so with that, Flight, you are

"Go!" to close out LADEE mission operations.

Narrator: With those words, NASA's LADEE mission

came to an end as the spacecraft spacecraft executed

a planned de-orbit into the surface of the Moon

at nearly three thousand, six hundred miles per hour.

Butler Hine: We spent all of our fuel going after

the really valuable low-altitude science,

which means you have nothing left, so you can't go back up.

And the moon's gravity field is so lumpy that

eventually, you'll wander around to a point where

you impact. It's a trade. You go as low as you

can to get the science and then, the price you pay

is eventually you have to impact.

Narrator: At every milestone, the LADEE spacecraft

and team performed well and achieved all of their

goals for the mission.

Instrument testing and data collection went

extremely well throughout the mission,

originally planned for a total of 160 days.

Efficient management of the spacecraft's fuel

resources allowed the mission to continue

collecting data into April of this year.

After descending to its final orbital altitude,

LADEE completed more than 100 orbits of the Moon

at extremely low altitude, giving the science team

a unique opportunity to collect data above the

lunar surface.

About the size of a large vending machine, LADEE

was designed and built at NASA's Ames Research

Center at Moffett Field, California.

NASA Mission Control: 2...1...zero...ignition...

(Roar of rocket engines)

NASA Mission Control: and liftoff of the

Minotaur Five with LADEE.

Narrator: Launched in September 2013 from NASA's

Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, LADEE began

orbiting the moon on October 6 and gathering

science data on November 10.

The primary goal of the mission was to collect

data about the thin lunar atmosphere and the

amounts of dust that are in it at multiple

altitudes.

Rick Elphic: At higher altitudes, we saw very few

dust particle impacts. But the lower we went

with LADEE, the more we saw. And it's a very,

very steep rise. So if you're operating

with spacecraft very close to the surface

of the moon, as you would with a robotic lander

or a human lander, you might need to consider

the fact that you've got more dust there

in the way, as you come in.

Narrator: While the spacecraft has finished its

job, the LADEE science team is busy working with

their data and hope to announce their discoveries

within the next few months.

(Electronic Sounds of Data) (Musical Tones)