NASA delayed the launch of its GRAIL (Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory) mission to the moon Thursday because of high winds at Cape Canaveral, Fla.

NASA said it will wait for the next launch opportunity Friday morning.

The GRAIL is composed of two mirror-opposite spacecraft, which is aimed at uncovering the mysteries of the moon's interior.

The GRAILs are expected to reach the moon on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. NASA said this schedule is not likely to change even if there are further weather delays. GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B will spend three months making 12 polar orbits of the moon each day.

Scientists forecast the mission will provide a very detailed map of the moon's gravitational field, allowing them for the first time to better calculate the composition of its crust, mantle and core. This will ultimately add to their understanding of planet evolution.

The $496 million GRAIL mission will also mark an unprecedented use of "precision formation flying" technique beyond Earth's orbit. Scientists hope this technology, which uses multiple, coordinated spacecraft to study the same point in space in great detail, will provide many advances in space exploration in coming years.

As they travel on their determined paths, the two spacecraft will be tugged slightly away or towards each other, depending on the regional differences in the Moon's gravitational field. By constantly measuring the distance between them, they will, in effect, measure the gravitational field in detail

Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientist Maria Zuber, principal investigator of the GRAIL mission, said it will "reveal clues not only into the history of the moon and Earth, but will provide important data for future lunar exploration."

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge, Calif., is managing the GRAIL mission.