Word: spacecrafts
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Lunar Orbiter 1 last week became the first U.S. spacecraft to orbit the moon-and the first orbiter ever to transmit lunar photographs back to earth, where Americans could see them live on TV amid their afternoon soap operas...
Snapped from 133 miles away, the orbiter's first pictures showed the crater-pocked flatlands and adjacent ridges of the Mare Smythii region on the right-hand rim near the lunar equator. Later, the spacecraft snapped a 930-mi.-high shot of the moon's mysterious back side. Even so, the strong picture signals from the high-resolution lens were extremely fuzzy, primarily because of difficulties in the spacecraft's camera system...
...orbiting the moon last April, Russia's Luna 10 achieved a first that the U.S. is striving to match. The Soviet spacecraft apparently lacked photographic equipment, and the U.S. now aims to take the lead by orbiting the moon with five picture-taking satellites in a row. Last week Lunar Orbiter 1 soared up from Cape Kennedy and successfully zeroed in on its 237,500-mile, 92-hour trip to the moon...
...orbiter was scheduled to reach a crucial point 550 miles away from the moon. There, plans called for firing its retrorocket for 9½ minutes and cutting its speed from 6,000 m.p.h. to 2,000 m.p.h. Purpose: to let the moon's gravity capture the spacecraft and pull it into "loose lunar orbit" on an elliptical course ranging from 120 to 1,150 miles above the moon...
...Dirt Passes. If all this works, the spacecraft will then be tracked for three to seven days in order to determine whatever variations exist in the moon's gravitational field. At the same time, the orbiter's systems will be checked out by transmitting pictures of the moon's previously unphotographed right edge. After the orbit has been determined, a blast from the spacecraft's 100-lb.-thrust engine is scheduled to lower it as close as 28 miles above the lunar surface. Then, zooming around the moon at a relative speed of 4,500 m.p.h...