NASA has successfully crashed two spacecraft into the moon's south pole in a hunt for hidden ice, the space agency said Friday.

NASA's Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) and its Centaur booster rocket are on course to crash into the moon in this artist's illustration released October 9, 2009. On final approach, the shepherding spacecraft and Centaur will separate. The Centaur will be the primary impactor and will create a debris plume that will rise about 6.2 miles (10 km) above the lunar surface. Following four minutes behind, the shepherding spacecraft will fly through the debris plume, collect and relay data back to Earth before impacting the lunar surface and creating a second debris plume.[Xinhua]

An empty 2.2-ton Centaur rocket hull struck the lunar surface first and created a debris plume. A space probe loaded with cameras and instruments followed four minutes later, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before also striking the lunar surface and creating a second debris plume.

The space probe LCROSS, short for Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, contained five cameras and four other scientific instruments.

NASA had touted live photos from the LCROSS on its web site. But those images didn't occur. NASA officials said they are sure the two spacecraft crashed and trying to determine what happened to the live photos.

"It's hard to tell what we saw," said Michael Bicay, director of science at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. "We have some confirmation from the (control room) that we had a thermal signature."

Pictures were live until seconds before impact.