Space Rocket History #144 – Lunar Orbiter 2 – 5 and Wresat

A total of five Lunar Orbiter missions were launched by the US in 1966 through 1967. The purpose of the lunar orbiter series was to photograph the moon’s surface for selection and verification of safe landing sites for the Surveyor and Apollo missions.

The Lunar Orbiter

LO 2 Image of the Sea of Tranquility

LO 3 Image of the Tsiolkovskiy Crater

LO 4 image of the Davy Crater Chain

LO 5 Image of the Tycho impact crater

First Australian satellite called Wresat

Wresat assembly and testing

Wresat Launch

One thought on “Space Rocket History #144 – Lunar Orbiter 2 – 5 and Wresat”

Thanks for the coverage you gave on the WRESAT satellite. It is an interesting story that sadly has not been repeated again by Australia. My name is Paul Spencer and I am an Australian who was 11 years old when WRESAT was launched. I’ve done a bit of research on this project and it is interesting to see that even the USSR offered congratulations on the achievement to the Australian Government – which in the light of the Cold War – and Australia’s long-term alliances with the US – is pretty amazing.