July 17, 2008 Vol. 1 Issue 6
On July 28, 1964, Ranger 7 was launched from Cape Canaveral.
In the early-to-mid 1960s, the Ranger series was initiated to give the United States close-range photos of the moon’s surface. Each Ranger spacecraft was designed to fly straight down from earth to the moon, taking high-resolution photographs in the minutes before impacting the lunar surface. There were 9 Ranger missions in all.
The Ranger 7 spacecraft held 6 TV vidicon cameras: 2 wide angle, 4 narrow angle. The cameras were housed in a conical tower that sat on top of the 1.5-meter aluminum frame base. The 3.6-meter high spacecraft also featured propulsion and power units as well as 2 solar panels.
Half an hour after launch, Ranger 7 was ejected from the Earth parking orbit into a lunar trajectory. Following 68.6 hours of flight, Ranger 7 reached the moon on July 31. The spacecraft’s instruments took more than 4,300 high-resolution photographs in the 17 minutes before impact. Apollo planners later used the highly detailed images to help determine a suitable lunar landing site for future space endeavors.
Ranger 7, the first successful Ranger mission, came on the heels of a high-profile camera failure on Ranger 6 that resulted in a Congressional review of the program. After Ranger 7, the last two missions in the program also achieved their objectives.
