NASA releases new moon pics requested by fourth graders

Pasadena, California:  A NASA spacecraft in orbit around the moon has sent back five dozen new images of the lunar surface including a view of the far side with Earth in the distance.

Don't thank scientists for it. Fourth-graders from Emily Dickinson Elementary School in Bozeman, Montana, directed the spacecraft to snap pictures as part of a project headed by Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.

The images were returned earlier this week.

Twin NASA probes entered lunar orbit over the New Year's weekend on a mission to study the gravity field. During non-critical parts of the mission, select students get to choose camera targets.

The Montana students got first dibs for winning a NASA-sponsored contest that renamed the craft Ebb and Flow.

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