Ranger:
Program Overview
The Ranger series of spacecraft were designed to take high-quality pictures of
the
Moon and transmit them back
to
Earth in real time.
The images were to be used for scientific study, as well as selecting landing
sites for the
Apollo Moon
missions.
All the Ranger spacecraft were designed to head straight into the Moon and
send close-range images back to Earth right up until they crashed into the
surface. The cameras onboard each spacecraft were designed to provide different
exposure times, fields of view, lenses, and scan rates, and they were arranged
in two separate self-contained chains, each with its own power supply, timer,
and transmitter.
After a frustrating series of malfunctions (these were the early days of
space exploration), Rangers 7, 8 and 9 were successful. The images they sent
back were 1000 times better than what could be made by Earth-based telescopes.
Visit the Ranger Website
