NASA bombs the moon. Is this the future of U.S. space exploration?

At 7:30 EST on Friday, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration deliberately crashed two orbiting probes into Cabeus, a large crater near the south pole of the moon. This program, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission, was designed to determine if the lunar surface contains water.

As the first part of LCROSS hurtled into the Moon's surface, it sent up a plume of rock and dust, which the second probe photographed. Shortly afterward, the other half of LCROSS also crashed into the Moon, creating another explosion that earthbound scientists could analyze.