Space: Around the Moon

By orbiting the moon last April, Russia's Luna 10 achieved a first that the U.S. is striving to match. The Soviet spacecraft apparently lacked photographic equipment, and the U.S. now aims to take the lead by orbiting the moon with five picture-taking satellites in a row. Last week Lunar Orbiter 1 soared up from Cape Kennedy and successfully zeroed in on its 237,500-mile, 92-hour trip to the moon.

The orbiter's prime mission is to transmit some 350 medium-and high-resolution pictures of nine possible landing sites for U.S. astronauts near the lunar equator. It will also take an admiring look at...

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