Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Apollo 15 launches subsatellite 1971


Shortly before the crew of Apollo 15 (Commander David Scott, Alfred Worden, James Irwin) left the moon after a successful mission, they launched a "subsatellite", the Apollo 15 Particles and Fields Subsatellite (PFS-1), August 4, 1971.  Its main objectives were to study the plasma, particle and magnetic field of the moon.  PFS-1 transmitted data until January 1973.  A series of failures resulted in the termination from the ground support.  It's assumed that it crashed on the moon sometime after that.


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