LCROSS mission preparations. Engineers gently lowering the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) into a thermal vacuum chamber before a test to simulate the harsh conditions in outer space. LCROSS was a mission that searched for water on the Moon. It was launched as a secondary payload on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) on 18th June 2009. Following the impact of its carrier Centaur rocket on the Moon on 9 October 2009, LCROSS flew through the plume of debris created, successfully detecting water, before itself impacting the Moon. Photographed on 23 June 2008 at Northrop Grumman's manufacturing facilities in Redondo Beach, California, USA.