First to the Far Side

Lunik III rounded the moon and this week started its slow turn back toward the earth, just as the Russians said it would.

The Russian space vehicle skimmed past the moon at a distance of 4,300 miles, then moved on into space, gradually slowing down. As it passed. Lunik III was deflected by the moon's gravity, which made it veer in the moon's direction, like a child swinging on a gatepost. But the tug was not enough to make it curve sharply and start right back. Instead, it swung out 67,000 miles beyond the moon's orbit (and 292,000 miles from the earth); then it started slowly back. By this time the moon, traveling on its own orbit at 2,000 m.p.h., had moved far away.

Britain's radio telescope at Jodrell Bank followed Lunik III while it was flirting with the moon, but one of Lunik's tracking transmitters (39 mc) had apparently gone dead, and the other one (183 mc) was working erratically. The signal stopped entirely for about four minutes. This break might have indicated the moment when Lunik III briefly dipped behind the edge of the moon, but the Jodrell Bank scientists could not be sure whether it passed ahead, behind or under the moon. Since the far side of the moon was mostly in sunlight, Lunik may have photographed it, and other instruments may have observed it in other ways. But the Russians did not say whether man's first chance to observe the far side of the moon had been successful.

The Russians predicted that Lunik would swing back toward the earth, passing 25,000 miles away (v. 26,400 miles maximum for the U.S.'s paddle-wheel satellite.) Then it will revolve around the earth for an indefinite period, moving out beyond the moon's orbit in a long ellipse and taking about 15 days to complete a full circuit. The plane of its ellipse is not the same as that of the moon's orbit but is nearly perpendicular to it.

Lunik III is a small, new member of the earth-moon system, and its big associates can tug at it strongly whenever it gets within range. The effect on its orbit will be greatest whenever Lunik III comes close to the moon, but this will not happen often. Eventually, Lunik may be attracted down to the moon's surface, or perhaps the moon will deflect it into a course that will hit the earth's atmosphere and bring its historic career to a fiery end.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.