Lunar Orbiter 1 due to stray sunlight) and overheating during its cruise to the Moon. The star tracker problem was resolved by navigating using the Moon as a reference, and the overheating was abated by orienting the spacecraft 36 degrees off-Sun to lower the temperature. Lunar Orbiter 1 was injected into an elliptical near-equatorial lunar orbit 92.1 hours after launch. The initial orbit was and had a period of 3 hours 37 minutes and an inclination of 12.2 degrees. On August 21, perilune was dropped to and on August 25 to . The spacecraft acquired photographic data from August 18 to 29, 1966,
Pioneer 3 direct ascent trajectory, the odds of hitting the Moon were slim. However, a lunar flyby rather than impact would still be considered a successful mission. The flight plan called for the "Pioneer 3" probe to pass close to the Moon after 33.75 hours and then go into solar orbit. The Juno II lifted from LC-5 at 12:44 AM on December 6. Launch went entirely according to plan until first stage cutoff, when the engine cut off 3.7 seconds early due to a failure of the propellant depletion sensors, leaving a velocity shortfall of several hundred feet per second. The injection