Lunar Orbiter 4

Organization:	NASA
Major Contractors:	Langley Research Center
Mission Type:	Lunar Science
Satellite of:	Moon
Launch:	May 4, 1967 at 22:25:00 UTC
Launch Vehicle:	Atlas-Agena D
Decay:	Impacted lunar surface no later than October 31, 1967, near 22--30 degrees W.
Mission Duration:	180 days
Mass:	385.6 kg
NSSDC ID:	1967-041A
Webpage:	NASA NSSDC Master Catalog
Orbital elements
Semimajor Axis:	6,152.5 km
Eccentricity:	.28
Inclination:	85.5°
Orbital Period:	721 minutes
Apogee:	6,111 km
Perigee:	2,706 km
Orbits:	360
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

Lunar Orbiter 4 was designed to take advantage of the fact that the three previous Lunar Orbiters had completed the required needs for Apollo mapping and site selection. It was given a more general objective, to "perform a broad systematic photographic survey of lunar surface features in order to increase the scientific knowledge of their nature, origin, and processes, and to serve as a basis for selecting sites for more detailed scientific study by subsequent orbital and landing 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 polar high lunar orbit for data acquisition. The orbit was 2706 km x 6111 km with an inclination of 85.5 degrees and a period of 12 hours. After initial photography on 11 May 1967 problems started occurring with the camera's thermal door, which was not responding well to commands to open and close. Fear that the door could become stuck in the closed position covering the camera lenses led to a decision to leave the door open. This required extra attitude control manuevers on each orbit to prevent light leakage into the camera which would ruin the film. On 13 May it was discovered that light leakage was damaging some of the film, and the door was tested and partially closed. Some fogging of the lens was then suspected due to condensation resulting from the lower temperatures. Changes in the attitude raised the temperature of the camera and generally eliminated the fogging. Continuing problems with the readout drive mechanism starting and stopping beginning on 20 May resulted in a decision to terminate the photographic portion of the mission on 26 May. Despite problems with the readout drive the entire film was read and transmitted. The spacecraft acquired photographic data from May 11 to 26, 1967, and readout occurred through June 1, 1967. The orbit was then lowered to gather orbital data for the upcoming Lunar Orbiter 5 mission.

A total of 419 high resolution and 127 medium resolution frames were acquired covering 99% of the Moon's near side at resolutions from 58 meters to 134 meters. Accurate data were acquired from all other experiments throughout the mission. Radiation data showed increased dosages due to solar particle events producing low energy protons. The spacecraft was used for tracking purposes until it impacted the lunar surface due to the natural decay of the orbit no later than October 31, 1967, between 22--30 degrees W longitude.

External links

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

This article or image contains materials that originally came from a NASA website. All NASA information is in the public domain, with the exception of the usage-restricted NASA logo. See the NASA copyright policy for more information.