LRO and LCROSS mission launch. Atlas V/Centaur carrying NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) on their missions to the moon. Lift-off took place from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, USA, on 18 June 2009. The LRO will stay in lunar orbit for at least one Earth year, mapping the surface, surveying resources and identifying possible landing sites for manned missions. The LRO/LCROSS mission entered lunar orbit on 23rd June 2009. The LRO also carried a secondary payload, the LCROSS instrument. This carried out an impact experiment on 9 October 2009, successfully detecting water in a permanently shadowed crater at the Moon's South Pole.