The batteries that power NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) need sunlight to recharge, and the spacecraft will fly in darkness for an extended period of time during the total lunar eclipse, which will be visible throughout the Western Hemisphere overnight on April 14 and 15.

 

"The spacecraft will be going straight from the moon's shadow to the Earth's shadow while it orbits during the eclipse," Noah Petro, LRO deputy project scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said in a statement. "We're taking precautions to make sure everything is fine. We're turning off the instruments and will monitor the spacecraft every few hours when it's visible from Earth."

 

LRO should make it through the eclipse just fine, Petro added.