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Luna Uncrewed Spaceflight

Luna 17 and Lunokhod 1

Luna 17The Soviet Union launches unmanned space probe Luna 17 toward the moon, carrying with it the first automated moon rover, Lunokhod 1. Solar-powered and deployed to the surface via a pair of ramps, the wheeled rover operates for eleven months, more than double the expected operational life span. Unlike Luna 16, Luna 17 and Lunokhod perform their studies of the lunar surface without returning any soil samples to Earth.

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Music

The Move: Looking On

Escape From The Planet Of The ApesFly Records releases the third album by Birmingham rock group The Move, Looking On. The group sports an elegant, elaborate new sound on this outing, having recruited budding songwriter/performer Jeff Lynne from another local band, the Idle Race. Lynne’s interaction with Move frontman Roy Wood will lead to the formation, a year later, of the Electric Light Orchestra.

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Science & Technology Uncrewed Spaceflight Weather & Climate

NOAA-1

NOAA / ESSA satellite seriesNASA and the newly-rechristened National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (formerly ESSA) launch NOAA-1, a weather satellite intended to operate in a near-polar low Earth orbit. Equipped with four cameras, NOAA-1 will operate in orbit for nearly a year before it begins suffering equipment malfunctions. Overheating in the spacecraft’s attitude control system forces ground controllers to turn off some of its weather sensing equipment, and NOAA-1 will eventually be shut down in August 1971.