Once you hear the whole story behind it, there's something a little sad about this video of the moon's surface.
Until December of last year, NASA had two spacecraft orbiting the moon as part of the GRAIL mission to map the moon's gravity.
The craft were called Ebb and Flow. They launched in September, 2011.
On December 14th, 2012, the images in the video were captured by Ebb's onboard cameras (the first section of video comes from the front-facing cam, and the second from the rear). The camera work was part of a final equipment test.
Three days later, Ebb and Flow were destroyed.
Both spacecraft were set on a course to collide with an unnamed mountain on the moon's surface. NASA has announced that the crash site will be named for Sally Ride, a GRAIL collaborator and the first American woman in space.
The destruction of Ebb and Flow was always part of the mission's plan - the craft had completed their work, and produced a comprehensive map of the Moon's gravity.
Still, you can't help feeling a little bad for Ebb and Flow: they did their job well, and all they got was planned destruction. At least they left us this cool video.
Related:
One Of These Days, Rover, Straight To The Moon!
Tonight's Blue Moon Coincides With Neil Armstrong's Memorial Service
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