Earth's Moon - Ranger 8

Ranger 8 image taken 2 seconds before impact

Earth's Moon
Last image taken by Ranger 8 camera-A from a distance of 4.2 km, 2 seconds before impact on 20 February 1965. The area shown is at 2.7 N, 24.55 E and the image is about 1.4 km across. The right side of the image is missing because Ranger 8 crashed before completing transmission. This area is about 60 km from the Apollo 11 landing site in the Sea of Tranquillity. These Ranger close-ups showed for the first time that even areas on the Moon which looked smooth from Earth were peppered with small impact craters. North is up. (Ranger 8, A060)
Larger image:

High resolution tiff file (1.0 Mb)

Location & Time Information
Date/Time (UT): 1965-02-20 T 09:57:34.7
Distance/Range (km): 4.21
Central Latitude/Longitude (deg): +02.70, 024.55 E
Orbit(s): Impact - Hard Landing

Imaging Information
Area or Feature Type: crater, mare
Instrument: Vidicon Camera A
Instrument Resolution (pixels): 1150 x 1150
Instrument Field of View (deg): 25.
Filter: None
Illumination Incidence Angle (deg): 75.1
Phase Angle (deg): 47.3
Instrument Look Direction: N/A
Surface Emission Angle (deg): 28.8

Ordering Information
CD-ROM Volume: N/A
NASA Image ID number: Ranger 8 A060
Other Image ID number: N/A
NSSDC Data Set ID (Photo): 65-010A-01A
NSSDC Data Set ID (CD): N/A
Other ID: N/A

Updated 23 April 2003, DRW.