Key Dates:
- 07.19.67: Launch (14:19:02 UT)
- 06.24.73: Spacecraft Shutdown
- Status: Mission Complete
Explorer 35 Information: It all started with a basketball-sized device launched into space in 1957 called Sputnik. This put the United States into a panic and led to the launch of Explorer 1, the United States's first satellite. Thus began the Explorer missions.
The Explorer program is the longest running series of NASA missions. Spacecraft from this series have studied the Sun, Moon, Earth and the environment of our solar system, with many still in operation. The program continues today with mission oprations planned through 2009. Of the many Explorer mission, three have been sent to study our moon. All were successful to some extent.
Explorer 35 had better luck than Explorer 33. It studied interplanetary space from lunar orbit and discovered that the Moon has no magnetosphere, that the solar wind impacts the lunar surface and that the Moon creates a 'cavity' in the solar wind. Explorer 35 operated for six years until NASA deliberately shut it down.
