Lunar Orbiter 3

Organization:	NASA
Major Contractors:	Langley Research Center
Mission Type:	Lunar Science
Satellite of:	Moon
Launch:	February 5, 1967 at 01:17:00 UTC
Launch Vehicle:	Atlas-Agena D
Decay:	Impacted lunar surface on October 9, 1967, at 14.3 degrees N, - 97.7 degrees W.
Mission Duration:	246 days
Mass:	385.6 kg
NSSDC ID:	1967-008A
Webpage:	NASA NSSDC Master Catalog
Orbital elements
Semimajor Axis:	2,694.0 km
Eccentricity:	.33
Inclination:	20.9°
Orbital Period:	208.1 minutes
Apogee:	1,860 km
Perigee:	52 km
Orbits:	1,702
Instruments
Lunar Photographic Studies :	Evaluation of Apollo and Surveyor landing sites
Meteoroid Detectors :	Detection of micrometeoroids in the lunar environment
Cesium Iodide Dosimeters :	Radiation environment enroute to and near the moon
Selenodesy :	Gravitational field and physical properties of the moon

The Lunar Orbiter 3 spacecraft was designed primarily to photograph areas of the lunar surface for confirmation of safe landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo missions. It was also equipped to collect selenodetic, radiation intensity, and micrometeoroid impact data.

The spacecraft was placed in a cislunar trajectory and injected into an elliptical near-equatorial lunar orbit on 8 February at 21:54 UT. The orbit was 210.2 km x 1801.9 km with an inclination of 20.9 degrees and a period of 3 hours 25 minutes. After four days (25 orbits) of tracking the orbit was changed to 55 km x 1847 km. The spacecraft acquired photographic data from February 15 to 23, 1967, and readout occurred through March 2, 1967. The film advance mechanism showed erratic behavior during this period resulting in a decision to begin readout of the frames earlier than planned. The frames were read out successfully until 4 March when the film advance motor burned out, leaving about 25% of the frames on the takeup reel, unable to be read.

A total of 149 medium resolution and 477 high resolution frames were returned. The frames were of excellent quality with resolution down to 1 meter. Included was a frame of the Surveyor 1 landing site, permitting identification of the location of the spacecraft on the surface. Accurate data were acquired from all other experiments throughout the mission. The spacecraft was used for tracking purposes until it impacted the lunar surface on command at 14.3 degrees N latitude, 97.7 degrees W longitude (selenographic coordinates) on October 9, 1967.

External links

• DESTINATION MOON: A history of the Lunar Orbiter Program (PDF) 1976

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