Nov 6 1966
From The Space Library
NASA's LUNAR ORBITER II (Lunar Orbiter B) unmanned spacecraft was successfully launched by Atlas-Agena D booster from ETR in second US. attempt to orbit the moon and photograph possible landing sites for Apollo astronauts [see Nov. 10-301. Agena 2nd stage fired to boost 850-lb. spacecraft into 100-mi. (161 km.) altitude parking orbit, reignited after 14-min. coast period, injecting spacecraft on 94-hr., 232,000-mi. translunar trajectory, and separated. On schedule LUNAR ORBITER II deployed its four solar panels and two antennas and locked its five solar sensors on the sun. Only difficulty occurred when spacecraft's star-tracker lost its fix on Canopus, delaying critical midcourse maneuver eight hours. Correction was accomplished at 44:09 GET and JPL predicted spacecraft would come very close to original aiming point. Primary objectives of NASA's LUNAR ORBITER II mission, second in series of five, were (1) to place three-axis stabilized spacecraft into lunar orbit; and (2) to obtain high-resolution photos on various lunar surface areas to assess their suitability as landing sites for Apollo and Surveyor spacecraft, and to improve our knowledge of the moon. Photos would cover 13 primary target sites, located generally within northern half of the Apollo zone of interest on the moon's front face. I t would also monitor micrometeoroids and radiation intensity in lunar environment and refine definition of moon's gravitational field. Lunar Orbiter program was managed by LaRC under direction of NASA's OSSA. Tracking and communications were the responsibility of JPL-operated Deep Space Network. (NASA Proj. Off.; NASA Release 66-286; O'Toole, Wash. Post, 11/7/66, A1, A3; Hines, Wash. Eve. Star, 11/7/66, A3; UPI, NYT, 11/9/66, 77; AP, Wash. Post, 11/10/66, A2)
President Johnson announced appointment of Under Secretary of Commerce Alan Boyd as Secretary of the new Cabinet-level Department of Transportation. (Pres. Doc., 11/14/66, 1620-21)
GEMINI X spacecraft was viewed by more than 13,000 people when it was displayed for the day at a Tokyo department store. (Wash. Post, 11/7/66)
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