SELENE SELENE SELENE (; Selenological and Engineering Explorer), better known in Japan by its nickname , was the second Japanese lunar orbiter spacecraft following the Hiten probe. Produced by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) and the National Space Development Agency (NASDA), the spacecraft was launched on September 14, 2007. After successfully orbiting the Moon for a year and eight months, the main orbiter was instructed to impact on the lunar surface near the crater Gill on June 10, 2009. The orbiter's nickname, Kaguya, was selected by the general public. It comes from the name of a lunar princess
Explorer 33 Explorer 33 Explorer 33 (also known as AIMP-D, IMP-D, AIMP 1, Anchored IMP 1, Interplanetary Monitoring Platform-D) was a spacecraft in the Explorer program launched by NASA on July 1, 1966 on a mission of scientific exploration. Originally intended for a lunar orbit, mission controllers worried that the spacecraft's trajectory was too fast to guarantee lunar capture. Consequently, mission managers opted for a backup plan of placing the craft into an eccentric Earth orbit with a perigee of 265,679 km and an apogee of 480,762 km — still reaching distances beyond the Moon's orbit. Despite not attaining the intended lunar