Europe reaches the moon

Smart-1 arrived nov 2004

Here's the Moon as seen by SMART-1
during the approach phase 12 November
at a distance of about 60 000 kilometres.

The Moon was then invisible from Earth (new Moon).
The illuminated part at the top shows a slice
of the far side near the lunar north pole.

The far side is seen for the first time
by a European spacecraft, and
ESA is only the fourth organisation
to do so in the history of lunar exploration.

This Moon image is the last shot
that the lunar probe could take before
it prepared for a delicate manoeuvre
to stabilise the spacecraft in lunar orbit...