Posted by Ray Katz in history, moon
When Men Launched A Lunar Satellite From Apollo
Apollo 15, a manned lunar landing mission in 1971, was the first to land in a mountainous region, and the first to use a lunar rover to drive along the surface.
A lesser-known accomplishment of this mission: launching a small sub-satellite into lunar orbit. The task was crudely done: an astronaut pushed a button and the satellite was pushed out into space using a spring. But it worked. And the satellite detected strange magnetic forces. Unlike earth’s comparatively orderly van Allen radiation belts, the moon has an eclectic pattern of magnetic swirls.
The satellite orbited at a height of 60 miles and returned data from August 1971 until January 1973.
Apollo 16 launched a nearly identical lunar satellite the next year.
Launching satellites from a manned space vehicle is almost common in the shuttle era…but the pioneering satellites launches from Apollo was little noted and the time, and is all but forgotten today.
