NASA has named the impact site where the two GRAIL spacecraft hit the Moon today after American astronaut Sally Ride.

NASA has named the impact site where the two GRAIL spacecraft hit the Moon today after American astronaut Sally Ride.

Though this is a nice gesture, the entire public relations campaign surrounding the GRAIL impact today has been one of the more overhyped exercises at NASA. The impact is going to provide very little new science, and is necessary because no lunar orbit is stable and the spacecraft will eventually crash into the Moon anyway. Better to do it under controlled circumstances. To make such a big deal about it however is hardly interesting, especially since this has been done repeatedly by practically every lunar orbiter.