Inadvertent launch control-activated destruct of booster on pad due to apparent payload command. Luna 17 was launched from an earth parking orbit towards the Moon and entered lunar orbit on November 15, 1970. The payload, the Lunokhod 1 unmanned rover, rolled down a ramp from the landing stage and began exploring the surface. By then it had traveled 10,540 m and had transmitted more than 20,000 TV pictures and more than 200 TV panoramas. It had also conducted more than 500 lunar soil tests.
Parameters are for lunar orbit.
214 x 224 pixels. NASA Administrator discussed significance of Russian unmanned lunar probes to Apollo. September 12 and November 10. Luna XVI had brought lunar samples back to earth and Luna XVII had landed an unmanned Lunokhod roving vehicle on the moon's surface. Low stated in a letter to Chairman Clinton P. Anderson of the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences that while the two launches were impressive their contributions to science and technology were relatively minor.