Tuesday, February 5, 2019

Lunar Orbiter 3 launched 1967


Lunar Orbiter 3, launched February 5, 1967, was a lunar orbiter sent to photograph possible landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo programs.  It entered lunar orbit on February 8 and began taking pictures until March 2.  A problem with the film advance mechanism led to photographs being transmitted earlier than planned but the mechanism broke down March 4.

It remained in orbit for tracking purposes until October when it was purposely crashed on the moon.


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