NASA is less than two weeks from launching a small, car-sized lunar explorer into orbit around the moon to collect new data about the composition of the lunar atmosphere.

The mission, known by the acronym LADEE for Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer, will launch September 6 and has many firsts, "including the first flight of the Minotaur V rocket, testing of a high-data-rate laser communication system, and the first launch beyond Earth orbit from the agency's Virginia Space Coast launch facility," according to NASA.

The crews hope the information gathered will help them understand other bodies in the solar system.

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