Third-party evidence for Apollo Moon landings their orbits. According to the group, in December 1972 a member "picks up Apollo 17 on its way to the Moon". Paul Maley reports several sightings of the Apollo 12 Command Module. Chabot Observatory calendar records an application of optical tracking during the final phases of Apollo 13, on April 17, 1970: Corralitos Observatory photographed Apollo 14. Paul Wilson and Richard T. Knadle, Jr. received voice transmissions from the Command/Service Module in lunar orbit on the morning of August 1, 1971. In an article for "QST" magazine they provide a detailed description of their work, with photographs. Jewett Observatory at
Moon landing instrumental in allowing the key 1965 NASA budget appropriation to pass through the United States Congress intact without a reduction in funds for the Apollo manned Moon landing program. Subsequent successes with Ranger 8 and Ranger 9 further buoyed U.S. hopes. The Luna 9 spacecraft, launched by the Soviet Union, performed the first successful soft Moon landing on 3 February, 1966. Airbags protected its ejectable capsule which survived an impact speed of over . Luna 13 duplicated this feat with a similar Moon landing on 24 December 1966. Both returned panoramic photographs that were the first views from the lunar