27609 - TRAILBLAZER

TRAILBLAZER is a 100-kg mockup of an American, commercial lunar orbiter that was launched from Baikonur by a Dnepr rocket at 17:00 UT on 2002 December 20, for testing the viability of the craft for orbiting the Moon. (Dnepr is a converted SS-18 ICBM.) If successful, these Lunar orbiters (and landers) will be launched in late 2003 through 2005. The company that sponsored the satellite "believes that there is a commercial demand for sending personal items, and burial ashes to the Moon". Initial orbital parameters were period 97.6 min, apogee 645 km, perigee 639 km, and inclination 64.6 degrees.

Facts in Brief

Launch Date: 2002-12-20
Launch Vehicle: Dnepr
Launch Site: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), Kazakhstan
Mass: 420.0 kg