Lunar Orbiter Spacecraft Model — 1/8 Scale

Vintage scale model of the lunar orbiter spacecraft, measuring approximately 22 x 15 x 18", and features four solar panels, the directional and omni-directional antennas (all of which fold up for launch), and the central station showing tanks, camera lenses, detectors, and other systems.

From the personal collection of Charlie Dry, a former Apollo test astronaut and research engineer and senior scientific analyst at NASA.

The Lunar Orbiter program consisted of five unmanned lunar orbiter missions launched by the United States between 1966 and 1967. The crafts were designed to help select Apollo landing sites by mapping the surface of the moon; as a result, these orbiters provided the first photographs from lunar orbit.

In addition to the near global photographic coverage of the Moon, Lunar Orbiter provided additional information that aided Apollo. The micrometeoroid experiments recorded 22 impacts showing the average micrometeoroid flux near the Moon was about two orders of magnitude greater than in interplanetary space but slightly less than the near Earth environment. The radiation experiments confirmed that the design of Apollo hardware would protect the astronauts from average and greater-than-average short term exposure to solar particle events. Analysis of the spacecraft orbits found evidence of gravity perturbations, which suggested that the Moon was not gravatationally uniform. Instead it appeared as if buried concentrations of mass were under the mare deposits. By discovering and defining these "mascons," Lunar Orbiter made it possible for the Apollo missions to conduct highly accurate landings and precision rendezvous.

After depleting their film supplies, all five Lunar Orbiters were purposely crashed onto the Moon to prevent their radio transmitters from interfering with future spacecraft.

Photo by Steve Jurvetson uploaded on Flickr under a Creative Commons CC-BY-2.0 free license.

Flickr file: www.flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/50024117333


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