This Day In NASA History: 1964 Apollo Lunar Surface Report

By  //  March 17, 2016

Space-Coast-History

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA — On March 17, 1964, Texas Instruments, Inc., presented a progress report on their lunar surface experiments study to the MSC Lunar Surface Experiments Panel.

Texas Instruments surveyed and rated measurements to be made on the lunar surface. Areas covered included soil mechanics, mapping, geophysics, magnetism, electricity, and radiation.

The next phase of the study involved integrating and defining the measurements and instruments according to implementation problems, mission needs, lunar environment limitations, and relative importance to a particular mission. Texas Instruments would recommend a sequence for performing the experiments.

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The first manned flight of Apollo was in 1968.

Apollo 8 was the first manned spacecraft to orbit another celestial body, while the final Apollo 17 mission marked the sixth Moon landing and the ninth manned mission beyond low Earth orbit.