The Lunar Orbiter program was a series of five lunar orbiter missions that were launched by the US between 1966 and 1967. All the five were unmanned and were planned to select landing sites for the Apollo mission by mapping the Moon’s surface.
They were designed to acquire high resolution images. All the five missions were successful and the orbiter images supplanted all previous lunar maps and photo atlases. The Lunar Orbiters managed to map almost 99 per cent of the surface of the Moon. They provided close-up views with 10 to 100 times higher resolution than the best telescopic images. These images were also used for detailed lunar geology investigations from the late 1960s.
The first three missions photographed 20 potential Apollo landing sites while the Lunar Orbiters 4 and 5 were sent to the far side of the Moon.
Picture Credit : Google
