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DESTINATION MOON: A History of the
Lunar Orbiter Program
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- CHAPTER 1: UNMANNED LUNAR
EXPLORATION AND THE NEED FOR A LUNAR ORBITER
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- Mustering for the Challenge of
Space
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- [6] Since its
inception in 1958 the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration had undertaken the development of new procedures in
planning, organization and management, as well as in hardware
fabrication and training for mission operations. In 1964 Congress
had found weakness in one of NASA's lunar programs that
demonstrated clearly some of the difficulties which NASA had to
overcome in the development of its program to explore the Moon.
This long-range task greatly challenged the knowledge and the
talent which America mustered, and the muster took place in a
politically charged atmosphere in which the United States had
decided to pit its scientific and technological resources and
prestige against those of the Soviet Union.
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- The history of the Lunar Orbiter Program
constitutes a significant chapter in the initial exploration of
the Moon and America's first decade in space. It is part
[7]
of the record of the preliminary phase in the Apollo Manned Lunar
Landing Program, and we must now turn to its origins for
a closer study of its role in putting the first men on
the Moon on July 20, 1969.
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