MSNBC reports that NASA’s lunar orbiter has sent back it’s first images of the controlled crash site on the moon’s southern pole. Two rockets were crashed into the moon’s surface last Friday in an attempt to find water ice on the moon’s surface.

The crashes themselves were slightly over-hyped; many people woke up early Friday morning to witness the lunar crash, which NASA and others had said should produce a sight visible from Earth. Nothing happened.

LCROSS itself observed the crater made by the Centaur stage impact in its last few moments before its own death plunge. It still remains to be seen, however, whether the crashes created the vast plume of moon dirt that scientists predicted would blast out of the crater up to heights of 6.2 miles, where it could be lit up by the sun and visible to observers on Earth.

By scanning the thermal and visual images sent back by LCROSS, NASA hopes to discern whether water ice is present throughout the lunar surface.

Photo (via MSNBC) (via NASA/GSFC/UCLA)