News World Today in History: First US Orbiter launched to orbit Moon

Today in History: First US Orbiter launched to orbit Moon

New Delhi: The first American spacecraft to orbit the Moon was launched on 10th of August 1966.The spacecraft was named as  Lunar Orbiter 1 robotic. It was part of the Lunar Orbiter program. The Lunar



All five missions were successful, and 99 percent of the Moon was mapped from photographs taken with a resolution of 60 meters or better.





The first three missions were dedicated to imaging 20 potential manned lunar landing sites, selected based on Earth-based observations.

These were flown at low inclination orbits. The fourth and fifth missions were devoted to broader scientific objectives and were flown in high-altitude polar orbits.

Lunar Orbiter 4 photographed the entire nearside and 9 percent% of the far side, and Lunar Orbiter 5 completed the far side coverage and acquired medium (20 m) and high (2 m) resolution images of 36 pre-selected areas.

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