Space Probe Joins Growing Lunar 'Graveyard' on Far Side of the Moon

Last week's intentional crash of a NASA probe on the far side of the moon added one more body to an already substantial graveyard of space hardware.

NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) slammed into the moon's surface, as planned, in the early hours of April 18, bringing an end to a $280 million mission that launched in September 2013.

LADEE's smash landing on the moon's far side is far from unique, said Philip Stooke of the University of Western Ontario in Canada, a space-mapping expert who documents lunar and planetary exploration.