India Smashes Probe Into Moon

India’s Moon Impact Probe, decorated with the country’s colors, was a smashing success for India's space program when it rammed into the moon’s surface today, Bloomberg reports. The green, white, and orange probe hurtled downward for half an hour, gathering data on the moon’s surface before its crash landing. The mission was part of India’s $78.9 million plan to map the moon’s terrain.

“The space program achieved a unique feat today with the placing of the Indian tricolor on the moon’s surface on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthday,” said India’s space agency in an homage to the country’s first PM. The 75-pound probe came from a larger one, India’s first unmanned probe, which was launched last month and will orbit the moon for 2 years.
(More space stories.)