By Julie Cooper

Each month in “Slice of History” we’ll be featuring a historical photo from the JPL Archives. See more historical photos and explore the JPL Archives at https://beacon.jpl.nasa.gov/.

Ranger Midcourse Motor — Photograph Number 384-5117B

Engineer Ted Metz proudly showed off the Ranger midcourse correction motor in a photo similar to this one that appeared in the May 1965 issue of Lab-Oratory, the JPL employee newsletter. “Since few Lab employees have seen the Ranger and Mariner midcourse propulsion unit, we show here the rocket motor portion of the system held by Propulsion project engineer, Ted Metz. This 50-pound thrust motor utilizes hydrazine fuel and has successfully corrected the trajectories of the Mariner R, Mariner IV and Rangers VI through IX spacecrafts.”

From 1961 to 1965, there were six Ranger flights that failed for various reasons and three very successful ones (Rangers 7, 8, and 9). Mariner R (based on the Ranger spacecraft, also called Mariner 2) had flown by Venus, and Mariner 4 was on the way to Mars.

This post was written for “Historical Photo of the Month,” a blog by Julie Cooper of JPL’s Library and Archives Group.

By Julie Cooper

Each month in “Slice of History” we’ll be featuring a historical photo from the JPL Archives. See more historical photos and explore the JPL Archives at https://beacon.jpl.nasa.gov/.

Transition Pipe — Photograph Number 327-287A

This test setup was part of an investigation in 1954 of the stability of laminar pipe flow with respect to disturbances of different frequencies and amplitudes. A disturbance generator was developed using vibrating aluminum reeds and instruments measured how a small amplitude disturbance in the air flow changed as it propagated down the 115–foot length of a 2” aluminum pipe. It appears to be located in the concrete channel that was used in the 1940s as a hydrodynamic tank with a rocket-propelled towing car (the “Hydrobomb”). At the end of the room you can see metal rungs that were used to climb down into the channel when the water was drained.

This post was written for “Historical Photo of the Month,” a blog by Julie Cooper of JPL’s Library and Archives Group.