NASA marks 2012 with probes in moon orbit

NASA Moon Mission Delayed
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL - SEPTEMBER 8: NASA Administrator Charles Bolden (R), Deputy Director of Planetary Division Jim Adams (C) and United Launch Alliance Vice President of Mission operations Jim Sponnick review incoming data during the countdown to launch of the twin GRAIL spacecraft on September 8, 2011, at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida. High winds in the unacceptable range Thursday morning delayed the GRAIL launch by 24 hours. The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory spacecraft (GRAIL) will help create a high-resolution map of the Moon's gravitational field. Photo by (Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images) (Getty Images)

NASA kicked off the new year with a pair of probes circling the moon in the latest mission to understand how Earth's closest neighbor formed.