Lunar Orbiter 5
Lunar Orbiter 5 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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NSSDC ID | 1967-075A | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mission goal | Preparation of manned moon landings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Client | NASA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Launcher | Atlas - Agena D | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
construction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Takeoff mass | 385.6 kg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Course of the mission | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Start date | August 1, 1967, 10:33 PM UTC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
launch pad | Cape Canaveral LC-13 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
End date | January 31, 1968 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Lunar Orbiter 5 was the last lunar probe of the lunar orbiter program of the US space agency NASA . With the Lunar Orbiter program, the moon was to be captured and mapped photographically in order to find landing sites for the space probes of the Surveyor program and for the manned moon landing .
Mission history
The lunar probe launched on August 1, 1967 and entered a polar, elliptical orbit around the moon on August 5. The height of the orbit was between 194 and 6023 km, the inclination of the orbit 85 °, the orbit duration 8.5 hours. On August 6th, recordings of the lunar surface began. On the following day the proximity to the moon was reduced to 100 km, and on August 9 the distance to the moon was reduced to 1,499 km. The recordings ended on August 18th, after which the images were broadcast to earth until August 27th. The mission produced 211 medium resolution images and 633 high resolution images. On January 31, 1968, the probe was deliberately brought down and hit at 3 ° S, 83 ° W.
Web links
- Lunar Orbiter 5 in the NSSDCA Master Catalog (English)
- Lunar Orbiter in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
- Bernd Leitenberger: Lunar Orbiter