On Sept. 3, 2006, a European satellite named SMART-1 crashed into the moon! This wasn't actually as disastrous as it sounds, because the spacecraft did it on purpose.
SMART-1 launched in 2003 and was the first European spacecraft to go to the moon. It was also the first mission of a program called Small Missions for Advanced Research in Technology, which was a series of low-cost spacecraft that the European Space Agency launched to test new spaceflight technologies.
SMART-1's primary objective was to test something called Solar Electric Primary Propulsion, or a solar-powered electric engine. Read Entire Article
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