America's First True Lunar Success
- 10 years ago
The United States first had a successful contact with the moon in 1964 that paved the way for Apollo 11 in 1969.
Many think of America's - and mankind's - first contact with the moon to be the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 when Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon. Actually, the United States had an earlier success in 1964 that paved the way in its exploration of the moon for Apollo 11.
NASA's first six Ranger missions suffered failure - from unsuccessful launches, missed targets, or technology issues. But on July 28th, 1964, the unmanned Ranger 7 spacecraft built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was successfully launched from Cape Kennedy and traveled 240,000 miles to the moon. Its mission was to capture detailed images of the moon's surface for science in general and possible landing sites for a future human flight.
Measuring 11 feet tall, the Ranger 7 featured solar panel wings, batteries, antenna, motor, electronics, and a television subsystem including 6 cameras. More than 4,300 images were captured by those cameras and sent to earth during the last 17 minutes of flight before the Ranger 7 crashed into a preselected area of the moon.
The first impressive image captured by the Ranger 7 shows three popular craters as well as 220 miles of the lunar surface. A 1964 documentary called "Lunar Bridgehead" covers the Ranger 7's mission and final moments before impact.
Many think of America's - and mankind's - first contact with the moon to be the Apollo 11 mission in 1969 when Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon. Actually, the United States had an earlier success in 1964 that paved the way in its exploration of the moon for Apollo 11.
NASA's first six Ranger missions suffered failure - from unsuccessful launches, missed targets, or technology issues. But on July 28th, 1964, the unmanned Ranger 7 spacecraft built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory was successfully launched from Cape Kennedy and traveled 240,000 miles to the moon. Its mission was to capture detailed images of the moon's surface for science in general and possible landing sites for a future human flight.
Measuring 11 feet tall, the Ranger 7 featured solar panel wings, batteries, antenna, motor, electronics, and a television subsystem including 6 cameras. More than 4,300 images were captured by those cameras and sent to earth during the last 17 minutes of flight before the Ranger 7 crashed into a preselected area of the moon.
The first impressive image captured by the Ranger 7 shows three popular craters as well as 220 miles of the lunar surface. A 1964 documentary called "Lunar Bridgehead" covers the Ranger 7's mission and final moments before impact.