A single film-moving motor burned out on Lunar Orbiter 3 after it had captured a couple hundred frames, an incident that threatened the mission's success.
Notes on verification
Corroborated by NASA, NSSDCA, LPI, and independent space-history sources; consistent details on frame count and motor burnout during readout phase. [tier=gold indep_score=0.95 clusters=3 claim_tier=notable]
Sources
- Moon photos from the 1960s were developed in space—here's how (seed:science_and_space)
- https://science.nasa.gov/mission/lunar-orbiter-3/ (corroboration)
- https://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar/missions/orbiter/ (corroboration)
- https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1967-008A (corroboration)
- https://www.drewexmachina.com/2017/02/05/lunar-orbiter-3-preparing-for-apollo/ (corroboration)