... Destination: Moon . ... Credit: Kennedy Space Center , NASA Explanation: Tuesday, January 6, at 9:28 p.m. EST, NASA's Lunar Prospector spacecraft climbed into the sky above Cape Canaveral Air Station riding an Athena II rocket . Representing NASA's first Moon mission since the 1972 flight of Apollo 17 , this launch also occurred on the 30th anniversary of the launch of the Surveyor 7 lunar lander . ... Prospector carries no cameras to image the well-photographed lunar surface. ...