[1] A research group at Princeton University had been exploring the possibility of testing the gravitational constant by using corner reflectors carried on artificial satellites.

Faller documented these ideas in a note titled "A Proposed Lunar Package (A Corner Reflector on the Moon)", but because he needed to complete his thesis, further development of the concept did not occur immediately.

The Moon's surface can scatter a laser beam and produce a sufficiently strong enough signal to be detected on Earth, resulting in ranging measurements that were accurate to within 120 meters (390 ft).

Beyond this though the effects of terrain became problematic, and when combined with a returned signal strength that is both weak and temporally dispersed, surface scattering was not sufficient for the purpose of precision ranging.

[4] After an assembly of Princeton staff and alumni at a Physical Society meeting in 1964, it was decided that an experiment based on this concept should be proposed to NASA.

[5] This was led by Carroll Alley, a professor at the University of Maryland whose proximity to NASA's headquarters made him suited to taking on the role of the experiment's principal investigator.

At the same time the Lunar Ranging Experiment (LURE) advisory committee was formed whose notable members included Robert H. Dicke, James E. Faller, David Todd Wilkinson, William M. Kaula, and Gordon J. F.

[6] The returned signal diameter after a complete trip from the Earth to the Moon was 10 mi (16 km) wide resulting in only 1.6 detectable photoelectrons per laser shot by the telescope.

[1] As soon as the instrument was deployed, attempts were made to detect returned signals with no success due to limited observation time and uncertainty in deriving the experiment package's precise location.

[5] Strong return signals would not be detected until August 1 by the team at the Lick Observatory achieving a measurement with an accuracy of approximately 7 meters (23 ft) during the first observation.