Global Space Race Ch 2 Part 8
In the run up to the moon race, all three major powers began planning and launching a new generation of lunar probes. Though the Moon had been an early spacecraft destination, it had largely been ignored during the race for the planets. While NADA and the NLRB both planned lunar probes in order to test out technologies for their future missions, CARA focused on lunar probes to prove that, while they weren’t going to beat Germany or the US in putting a man on the Moon, they were still in the race. The German Mond program had succeeded in launching a few orbiter and flyby craft to the Moon, but they needed to go one step further in order to prepare for a manned landing. The Arminius program was conceived in 1966, and was split into two parts. First, advanced lunar orbiters would map the surface of the Moon, then, robotic Landers would test out landing technologies, and examine the lunar surface. NADA decided to instead, skip right to the landing stage, judging that Artemis orbiting missions would assist in landing site selection.
However, the Commonwealth beat them both, and on October 29, 1967, launched the Hudson 1 spacecraft from Woomera. Hudson 1 entered lunar orbit a few days later, and began taking high resolution images of the lunar surface, even better than those taken on the Matilda Circumlunar flights. The German response would take almost a year, during which, the Commonwealth would launch 3 more Hudson probes, 2 of whom were successful. The German response, Arminius 1, lifted off from Humboldt in August of ‘68. The probe performed perfectly, entering a polar orbit around the Moon, and set to work mapping the surface.
The real show, however, occurred in late 1968. On the 3rd of September, the NADA Mayflower 1 lifted off aboard a Neptune 1 rocket. The probe was placed on a direct intercept to the Moon. However, at the moment that the retro motor was supposed to fire, Mayflower 1 continued on, and slammed into the Moon. Unfazed, on the 11th of December, Mayflower 2 was launched, and three days later, landed in the Sea of Tranquility. The probe sank slightly into the dust, but remained stable, proving that the Moon's surface was solid enough to land on. Mayflower 2 transmitted panoramic pictures from the lunar surface. The Moon was in America's reach!
The Germans, after two successful Arminius orbiters, launched Arminius 4 aboard a Komet on January 20, 1969. Larger and more complex than its American counterpart, the lander was nevertheless successful, touching down lightly in the Ocean of Storms. Onboard sensors analyzed the lunar regolith, and stunning images were transmitted back. Arminius 4 had unexpectedly touched down in a crater, and so its images were able to see several layers of the Moon’s surface along the crater walls. This previously unknown crater was renamed Arminius Crater, in honor of the little probe. Unlike Mayflower 2, which stopped functioning after a day, when its batteries drained, the German probe’s solar panels kept it functioning for 8 days after landing. However, the 14 day long lunar night was too much for the little robot, and it never awakened from its hibernation.
After their initial successes, both sides continued their respective lunar robotic programs, in order to better understand the moon for the coming mission.