Ground control saves Euro space mission

Europe’s first mission to the moon got a scare today, but ground controllers were able make a last-minute course correction that kept the craft from prematurely hitting a lunar crater’s rim.

Europe’s first mission to the moon got a scare today, but ground controllers were able make a last-minute course correction that kept the craft from prematurely hitting a lunar crater’s rim.

Mission officials said they raised the low point of the SMART-1 spacecraft by 2,000 feet by using its positioning thrusters to avoid the almost mile-high rim.

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